The Ties That Bind
by josh93
Summary: Set after TLG, will be A/H and will likely contain some fluff and possibly adult content but nothing too graphic. Since their first encounter Artemis and Holly have been inextricably drawn together to save the world. Now they must save each other; and with conspiracies, a terrorist attack in Haven and mythical beasts loose in London, they may finally be out of their depth...
1. Murder Most Fowl

**A/N: _Hi all This is my first attempt at writing a fan-fic (or fiction of any kind for that matter) so please read and review! I grew up reading the AF books and this fic represents an idea that I've been developing for a while but which is very much still in development. The story picks up about a year after the events of the TLG (I can't find the precise time of year that TLG takes place so I'm going to assume that it was late summer) and as far as possible I will try to stay in character and within canon (although I warn you in advance that Artemis will be keeping his elvin eye, everything else should be fairly canon). There will definitely be significant A/H although there is a lot of other stuff too and there will almost certainly be fluff later and possibly some more adult stuff if I have the guts to attempt to write it...Let me know what you think, hope you all enjoy it and please review! ** = direct quote _**

**_P.S. Updates will probably be dependent on the response from readers and I can't promise that they will be regular if at all until after my uni exams which finish mid-June. _**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own Artemis Fowl and all characters/settings/content are the property of their original creator (with the exception of my original characters). This work is not intended for commercial gain.**

* * *

**Murder Most Fowl**

**Unkno****wn location – somewhere dark and generally unpleasant**

As he hunched over the plasma screen, putting the final touches on a plan several decades in the making, he allowed himself the slightest of grins; a rare indulgence indeed during the last half century.

_No matter now, the time for retribution is near and the LEP will pay for every second that I have suffered in ignominy! Starting with Captain Holly Short, she will soon come to regret the day that she crossed me. _

_She may have nine lives but Captain Short will soon realise just how mortal she is. I won't repeat the mistakes of that egotistical fool Koboi; this time her pet Mud Boy won't be there to save the day…._

Concealed within the shadows of the room stood a vast cage which appeared almost absurdly out of proportion with the fairy sized furniture. From within an unseen creature emitted a low growl of frustration, eager to be free once more amongst the world of men.

"Not long now my dear; soon you shall have all the blood that you desire...Not long at all"

**xxx**

**Fowl Manor, near Dublin**

_** '__What if I'm stuck like this? That wouldn't be so bad, would it?' _

_The question hung in the air between them, a question heavy with insecurity and hope. **_

_Artemis smiled self-consciously before answering._

'_No Holly, I don't believe that would be bad at all'_

_Then in a moment of boldness totally out of keeping with his character he took Holly's hand in his own and gently pulled her towards him, savouring the touch of her skin against his own as their lips pressed against each other. The kiss was tentative at first, full of innocence and uncertainty but as Holly reciprocated the kiss became more passionate and Artemis found his hands acting almost without his control, one tangled within her hair, the other on her waist. A few errant blue sparks flickered across Holly's lips and onto Artemis but strangely these sparks seemed to sting far more than Artemis could remember, almost like being electrocuted…._

As Artemis Fowl returned somewhat reluctantly to consciousness three words lingered in his mind:

'_In another time'_.

_Just a dream...Only a dream. _Despite having been awake for less than ten seconds Artemis Fowl the Second immediately made two equally surprising observations.

The first was that in the 17 years that he had been alive this was the first time he had ever remembered a dream; the second was that the electric shocks he had felt were in fact real and appeared to be being generated by Myles who was at this moment in the process of removing a series of electrodes from Artemis's head. There would be time to consider the implications of his dream later; genius though his younger brother undoubtedly was Artemis had no desire to risk even insubstantial damage to his considerable intellect due to a misplaced electric charge.

"Let me guess Myles...You are attempting to accelerate my recall by administering small electric shocks to my brain during sleep? Whilst plausible in theory I think we should probably consider less violent therapy first – and my memory is returning very well on its own thank you."

Myles Fowl, not yet six years old and already a child genius in the making shot his older brother his trademark evil grin before extricating himself from the room, trailing electrodes in his wake. Artemis quickly identified the cause of his younger brother's retreat as from downstairs Angeline Fowl could be heard attempting to get Myles and Becket ready for the weekend trip to Scotland which she had been planning for some time.

Artemis had been invited but had declined on the grounds that he was in the crucial stage of development for his latest project and couldn't possibly afford the time away from his lab. The real reason was of course that since his 'resurrection' Artemis had found it difficult to feel at ease around his family. His mother Angeline had practically refused to allow him out of her sight for weeks afterwards and try as he might his new found conscience would not allow him to escape the guilt that he felt for causing them such grief.

His logical brain readily accepted that if not for his sacrifice then he would still have died and billions of others would have shared his fate, but his parents could not have known that and their grief at his death had been absolute.

_I cannot escape the consequences that my actions have on those that I hold dearest; my parents have grieved because of me, Butler died because of me and Holly...Perhaps it is time to leave all of the cloak and dagger exploits behind...Butler would certainly appreciate an early retirement._

Artemis waited until he heard the distinctive rumble of the Bentley pulling out of the driveway before he ventured downstairs. As he wandered past the dojo he paused to listen to the unmistakable sound of Butler relieving his stress on the assortment of punch bags and training dummies. The massive Eurasian bodyguard justifiably ranked among the most feared human beings on (or under) the planet but despite his terrifying appearance and reputation Butler cared far more deeply about Artemis than would be usually be expected between a typical bodyguard and principal.

Although as the first human in history to have successfully stolen gold from the fairy People, prevented a goblin uprising, travelled in time and returned from the dead (despite not technically being an adult for another three days) Artemis Fowl II could hardly be considered to be a _typical _anything. If possible Artemis's death had been even harder for Butler to come to terms with than for his parents and Artemis knew that despite any protest to the contrary Butler would always believe that he had failed in his duty to protect the boy from harm – that somehow he could have prevented his death at the hands of the fairy magic.

_There was nothing anyone could have done old friend, not even you. One day I hope you will be able to accept that. _

Not wishing to disturb Butler Artemis continued past the dojo and downstairs to the drawing room. Decorated as it was with priceless Persian rugs and furniture that would not have looked out of place on the Titanic the drawing room of Fowl Manor exuded an atmosphere of timeless sophistication. The room held an appeal for Artemis that ran far deeper than aesthetics however.

Artemis Fowl II had few fond childhood memories but before his father's abduction and Angeline Fowl's subsequent illness this room had been the scene for many of those that he did have. Today however his family were absent and Artemis Fowl was preoccupied. Seating himself in the original 18th century mahogany Canapé, Artemis propped his laptop open upon his laptop and waited for it to start up and connect to the internet. In the few seconds that it took for this to happen he took the opportunity to appreciate the view from the drawing room window. It was a rarely sunny day for Ireland and the late August sun reflected off the gentle ripples of the lake like so many miniature diamonds; in the distance the willows swayed gently in the light breeze and a famliy of swans relaxed in the shade of the boughs. _Holly would love the view_ he mused.

_No murderous crickets, dwarf riding trolls or megalomaniacal pixies today; everything is tranquil and as it should be. _

The current tranquility was a far cry from the events of almost a year ago when the power-crazed pixie Opal Koboi had attempted to destroy humanity by opening the Berserker Gate, forcing Artemis to sacrifice himself. Only Artemis's quick thinking and Foaly's illegal cloning technology had enabled the teenage genius to return to life – and not without consequences, his memory foremost among them.

Holly had managed to secure a week's leave immediately after his resurrection (Commander Trouble Kelp could hardly argue as it was the first she had taken in over two years) and had spent the time helping Artemis to regain his memories of the last few years. Most of his memories had returned in time but significant blank patches still persisted and Artemis felt certain that his personality had undergone some degree of change – ironically dying seemed to have given him a greater appreciation of life, in addition to the six toes on his left foot and an extra year or two of biological age.

_Six toes and a fairy eye, I'm a veritable chimera _Artemis thought wryly.

Nor were the consequences of Opal's attempt at world domination limited to Artemis Fowl. Beneath the Earth the People had managed to largely recover from the damage that had occurred following the destruction of all Koboi technology (thanks in no small part to the technical genius of a certain centaur) but above ground human society was taking longer to get back to normal with many nations struggling to rebuild the damage to their infrastructure.

_Not back to normal, we have an opportunity here to be better than we were before; to build a fairer, more sustainable civilisation. _

Artemis smiled slightly despite himself. A few years previously such thoughts would never have occurred to him, driven as he was by self-interest and greed.

_Meeting The People really has changed me. Of course I still have no intention of living within the law, human or otherwise (where would be the challenge in that?), but I will certainly have to be more selective in who I steal from or manipulate in the future. _

_Meeting The People or meeting one __**person **__in particular? _

Severing that particular train of thought before it could lead him into potentially dangerous territory Artemis returned his attention to his laptop. The site he had opened contained a news article detailing a recent scientific expedition to the antarctic. The stated aim of the expedition was to assess the impact of global warming on antarctic ice coverage but Artemis had good reason to suspect that there was more to this particular operation than was being publicly acknowledged.

Further investigation was however prevented by the dramatic entry of Butler, Sig Sauer in hand. Before Artemis had a chance to react to the sudden entry of his bodyguard, Butler had grabbed him by the arm and shoved him roughly against the wall and out of view of the windows.

"Proximity alarms, we've got company. About sixteen of them as far as I can tell and all shielded."

Butler looked grim and Butler looking grim had a tendency to result in other people looking pained and remorseful, typically followed by general loss of control over bodily functions and loss of consciousness shortly thereafter. For their sake Artemis hoped that the LEP had a very good reason for interrupting his bodyguard's workout...

**XXX**

**Fowl Manor Grounds, Near Dublin**

Major Brior Darkleaf of LEP Retrieval was not an elf to be easily intimidated. That being said the sight of the giant Mud Man through the window of Fowl Manor would have been sufficient to intimidate a small troll.

Until today the major had been readily dismissive of the stories concerning the Fowl boy and his bodyguard (as if one Mud Man could face down an entire Retrieval team or singlehandedly take on a troll in close combat!) but even the gung-ho Major had to admit that storming this particular manor was not a prospect that he was looking forward to.

Corporal Grub Kelp, as the only member of the squad to recall the last unsuccessful attempt to carry out precisely such an operation, was if possible even less enthusiastic. The word 'mummy' had been mentioned so many times since their arrival that the Major had been forced to isolate Grubb's radio for the sake of morale and his own sanity. Someone had to take control of this operation and it certainly wasn't going to be the corporal.

"Right, enough nonsense, we have our orders. Let's bring Fowl in. Bravo team spread out and establish a perimeter, no one goes in or out of this estate without my say so. Alpha team you're with me, we're going to advance up the driveway in open order. With any luck Fowl will agree to come quietly but let's take no chances. All clear?"

There was a general chorus of "Yes Sir!" interspersed with what sounded suspiciously like a whimper from Corporal Kelp.

"Good, then fall out and remember, Fowl may be a cold blooded killer but we are not, so fingers off triggers until I say otherwise."

At the major's signal half of the retrieval fairies spread out to form a rough perimeter from which they could cover the advance of the assault party, led (with more than a little reluctance) by Darkleaf.

XXX

Butler peered through his sunglasses at the retrieval team as they began their advance on the manor. The sunglasses had been extensively modified by Artemis, using stolen fairy technology to incorporate infrared, anti-shield and zoom functions certainly not found in your typical Ray-Bans. Butler was not reassured by what he could see.

"Two teams, one providing cover while the other LEP are certainly taking us seriously this time - I won't be able to catch this lot off guard Artemis. But why are they here in the first place?"

"Why Indeed? The fact that they would risk coming here at all in broad daylight, even shielded, suggests that whatever reason they may have is serious and I doubt they will be willing to accept any delay." Artemis mused.

"There is of course an easy way to shed some light on the entire situation..." To a casual observer Artemis would appear calm but in truth he had been caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the LEP, but already his mind was processing the information, computing all possible logical explanations and possible responses. .

_I suppose I should really be used to this, after all this is hardly the first time that there have been fairy commandos in my garden. _Artemis thought sardonically.

"I know what you're thinking Artemis and it's a bad idea, those fairies out there aren't Holly...We have no idea what the situation is below ground right now, there could have been a coup for all we know. Going out there is too dangerous."

"Really Butler, I hardly think something so dramatic could occur without my knowledge. I am not without sources in Haven after all. Nonetheless I concede that there is merit to your argument but you are supposed to be enjoying your retirement now that I'm legally dead; I can hardly ask you to fight a small army of exceptionally well armed fairies on my behalf."

"I've faced worse _on your behalf _Artemis, and I would do so again without hesitation. You know I would give my life for you if necessary."

_I know old friend and that is why I must surrender myself, my conscience could not stand to lose you for a second time. _

"I am touched Butler, truly, but if I am right then there is no need for anyone to die today. If The People wished me dead, which I should add would be most out of character for them, then I am inclined to believe that they would be more subtle than to send in the troops in broad daylight when a lone assassin would almost certainly have a greater likelihood of success."

"Very well but if you're going out there then I'm coming with you."

"I don't think that would be wise. If you are right and this is a trap then it is surely better that I spring it alone than the LEP succeed in incapacitating both of us."

It went completely against Butler's ingrained protective instincts to allow Artemis to approach potentially aggressive hostiles without him but he knew the boy well enough to recognise when his mind would not be changed and the pragmatist within him conceded the truth of Artemis's statement. There were few men alive more dangerous than Butler but even he could not take on two fully armed Retrieval sections with only his Sig Sauer and without the element of surprise.

** XXX**

To the immense relief of Major Darkleaf, Alpha section had advanced less than half the distance between their shuttle (completely shielded of course) and Fowl Manor when the main doors were opened and Artemis Fowl himself stepped outside with his hands held casually, almost mockingly, in the air. The big Mud Man was nowhere to be seen. Darkleaf was undecided on whether he should feel relieved or not at that fact.

"Alright Fowl, glad to see you're choosing the sensible option. Keep walking this way, nice and slow, and keep those hands where I can see them if you want to stay conscious"

"Really major, I am correct in assuming you are a major? Good. Really major, is all this melodrama necessary? I am certain that I do not require an armed escort to Haven. It would have been more than sufficient to simply send Holly to..."

"How dare you, how dare you even mention her name. You're lucky my orders are so clear on the use of force Mud Boy." Darkleaf was sorely tempted to just sink a few charges into the arrogant Mud Boy there and then, and he could tell that most if not all of his officers felt the same way. After all, the Captain had been popular, not to mention the civilians...

Artemis looked slightly perplexed, he certainly hadn't been expecting that reaction and he was suddenly regretting his decision to leave Butler inside.

"Very well, perhaps you would be so kind as to explain precisely why you have been ordered here then? I assume that you haven't travelled all this way simply to threaten me."

It was taking all of the major's control not to shoot Fowl and the anger was clear in his voice.

"No, Mud Boy, we're not here to threaten you. We're here to arrest you for the murder of Captain Holly Short of the LEP and the five civilians that are still waiting to be identified. You have the right to remain silent but somehow I don't think we need to worry about that." And with that the major finally lost the battle with his self control and shot Artemis in the centre of his chest, stunning him instantly.

In the seconds before he lost consciousness Artemis's brain was only able to register one all-consuming fact – Holly is dead.

**XXX**

**City Centre, Haven (two ****hours earlier)**

Located within the central park and directly opposite Haven's spectacular waterfall the eponymously named Frond Falls Cafe was generally regarded to be the best place to enjoy a cup of sim coffee under the Earth. As she sipped her latte and laughed at Caballine's imitation of Foaly in the morning (Holly could empathise, she certainly wasn't a morning fairy herself) Holly decided that the boast was probably fair.

The scenery certainly made a pleasant change from the cramped, run-down goblin ghettos that she seemed to have spent most of her time in recently whilst chasing down one suspect or another. Bustling with tourists and children the park had an undeniably pleasant atmosphere and to add to the authenticity it even included a strictly controlled population of woodland animals. If you allowed yourself to be absorbed by the scent of pine and the sound of birdsong it was almost possible to lose yourself entirely and believe you were above ground.

_Almost. _

In truth Captain Holly Short would have preferred to be above ground with a pair of wings strapped to her back, the wind in her face (well, on her visor at any rate, not that she ever opened her visor above ground in total violation of LEP guidelines...) and a criminal to chase.

This was in fact the first time that she had technically been on leave since Artemis Fowl had returned to the world of the living and she had only agreed on the insistence of her Commander Trouble Kelp. Trouble's order could hardly be misinterpreted:

"Holly you're the best fairy on the force, but you look like you haven't slept properly in weeks and if you don't take a break then sooner or later you're going to snap and put someone in ICU or worse, and frankly I don't need that kind of paperwork."

You had to hand it to Trouble, there weren't many officers that could hope to step into Root or Vinyaya's boots and lead the LEP through the reconstruction of Haven...Holly certainly didn't envy him. The LEP had been trying to promote her to a desk job for years and she had absolutely no intention of agreeing to it. She would have agreed to it for her old commander Julius Root but since he had been murdered by Opal Koboi, no one else had come close to persuading her.

_I shouldn't be here, I should be topside with Artemis. I've hardly seen him since he came back...Since he cheated death against all the odds - typical Fowl. I miss him. Frond, where did that come from?! Not to mention the dream last night..._

The six months after Artemis had died had been some of the hardest of Holly's life, to her surprise her grief at losing Artemis had almost equaled that of losing her parents so many years previously. The only thing that had prevented a total breakdown had been her utter determination to bring him back, no matter the odds. No one else had truly believed that it could be done. Butler and Foaly had certainly hoped but she could tell that neither of them truly believed it was possible. Holly was different, she had never doubted that Artemis could come back, he **had** to. The alternative was unthinkable.

_When did I start to care so much?! _

They had broken every law under the Earth to resurrect Artemis Fowl and Holly knew she would do it again in a heartbeat.

_So why haven't I seen him in months? _

"...and then I told him that he can find his own carrots from now on! Holly? What's wrong, you look like you're away with the Mud Men and I'm sure you haven't heard anything I've said for the last two minutes?!"

Holly was prevented from further introspection by Cabbaline's frustrated whinnie. Apparently, disliking being ignored was not a trait specific to Foaly.

_Away with the Mud Men? Not far off the mark Holly. _

"Sorry Caballine, you're right, I was miles away...There is something actually, I haven't mentioned it to anyone else and Foaly absolutely cannot know?"

_Death would almost certainly be preferable. _

"I knew something was bothering you, what's wrong Holly? And don't worry about that silly horse Foaly. After what his latest experiment did to the kitchen he's lucky I'm talking to him at all."

Despite the feigned outrage Holly could see the faint smile that flitted across the centaur's face every time she spoke about her husband. You didn't need to be descended from Cupid to realise how much those two loved each other. In spite of the best efforts of more than a few particularly macho sprites (or at least as macho as it is possible for a sprite to be) during college, Holly had never had much time for love herself.

_Until him..._

"Thanks Caballine, I don't really know how to say this...It's just that since-"

It was at that precise moment that all hell decided to break lose within the previously serene park. Less than fifty metres from the cafe in which Holly and Cabbaline were sitting the ground literally exploded as four dwarves burst simultaneously from their concealed tunnel.

A small group of dwarves tunneling through the only national park in Haven would have been shocking enough in itself, but these four were armed to the teeth with illegal softnose rifles and outfitted in matching black body armour. These dwarves were clearly professional mercenaries.

Even as Holly's mind registered this the dwarves in question began firing indiscriminately into the crowd, with devastating effect. As the civilians noticed the first casualties go down the inevitable panic started. The mercenaries advanced through the panic stricken crowd, continuing to fire sporadically at anyone in their way and moving towards the cafe with a singularity of purpose.

"D'Arvit!" Holly swore and instinctively went for her gun, which of course wasn't there because she had to pick the one day that homicidal dwarves decided to shoot up central Haven to be off duty and totally unarmed. Holly swore again as she grabbed Caballine and pulled her to the ground next to her, before flipping the presumably extremely expensive real oak table they had been sitting at on its side in front of them.

_Poor cover but it's better than nothing! _

Holly's suspicions concerning the effectiveness of their cover were confirmed seconds later when the first softnose bolt smashed into the table inches above her head. The table held but it was a close thing.

"Caballine we have to move! For whatever reason, those dwarves seem to be heading straight for us and this table has less than a minute left."

To her credit the centaur was remarkably calm considering the circumstances; then again Holly reasoned that Caballine had faced worse odds when her house was overrun by crazed goblins last year.

_Concentrate Holly! Back-up is at least five minutes away, this table is going to be so many useless splinters long before that point. Relocate and reassess. _

Tentatively, Holly chanced a peak round the side of the table to assess the situation. What she saw was far from reassuring. At least five civilians were down and did not appear to be moving, the mercenaries were advancing in pairs whilst covering each other and were now less than twenty metres from her position.

A softnose blast came close enough to singe the tip of her ear and forced Holly to pull her head back as her healing magic kicked in to effect.

_D'Arvit! Definitely professionals. What I wouldn't give to have Mulch here right now; as unpleasant as following him down a tunnel is it certainly beats being dead!_

Unfortunately Mulch was not on hand to perform another of his impossibly well-timed and thoroughly unappreciated rescues, which left Holly with seconds to decide on a course of action. Retreating into the cafe was not an option; the owner had barricaded the door and even if they could get in, she had no desire to be cornered and unarmed. That left the wood, fifteen metres to their right, as their best hope for salvation.

_Get into cover and keep moving towards Police Plaza. _

"Right, Caballine, on three we sprint for those trees and don't stop for _anything_. Ok? One, two...three!"

To Holly's credit, it was a valiant attempt. Caballine, being faster and not the focus of the mercenaries attention, made it to the cover of the forest unscathed but Holly was not so fortunate. At full sprint she covered easily half of the distance and dared to believe that she might make it to safety too when the first charge clipped her thigh and the ground rushed up to meet her.

Swearing loudly and gripping her leg to stem the bleeding, Holly struggled to raise herself off the ground and saw Caballine preparing to come back for her even as her assailant reached her. Holly only had time to shake her head before the dwarf placed his boot firmly on her chest and forced her back to the ground.

_Run Caballine! _

As she looked up, defiance etched into every contour of her face, the mercenary stared back at her without a trace of emotion and leveled his gun at the centre of her chest.

"Artemis Fowl sends his regards." The dwarf shouldered the softnose laser in a single fluid motion and shot her once in the chest. Holly experienced a second of excruciating pain and then total darkness.

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**Thanks for reading! Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter and if you want more then let me know what you thought – what you liked and what I can improve on. If you've read this far then please review, it really is appreciated. **

**Apologies for the cliffhanger but it really had to be done...(evil laugh). **


	2. Rude Awakenings and False Accusations

**A/N: ****Chapter 2 is now up, slightly shorter than the first one but a lot more dialogue! Hopefully I'm not too OOC but please review and let me know what you think, it really does mean a lot. Also the title will make sense later – as will a few other elements such as 'the dream' which haven't been addressed yet. Updates are likely to be less frequent for a while after this but if people like the story then I promise I will keep going with it!**

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**Rude Awakenings and False Accusations**

**LEP Interrogation Room, Haven**

XXXX

Shortly after his first encounter with The People (encounter being a very generous description of what could essentially be described as kidnap and extortion) Artemis Fowl had been brought to Haven unconscious, only to awaken handcuffed and under armed guard, before being interrogated.

Seven years may have passed since that first trip to the fairy capital but the position in which Artemis Fowl found himself upon regaining consciousness was, he reflected, not exactly dissimilar from that which he had found himself in so many years before – handcuffed, under guard and accused of a crime he had not committed.

Of course some things were different this time; indeed some things would never be the same again. It had been Holly that had brought Artemis in for his first interrogation but this time he was to stand trial for _her_ murder.

_No_, _I refuse to believe that Holly is dead without proof. There must be another explanation..._

Sat across the table from Artemis was Commander Trouble Kelp, flanked by the arresting officer Major Darkleaf. Suppressing the urge to make a quip at the Commander's expense, Artemis opted instead to follow Butler's advice and took a second to familiarise himself with the environment while the two officers still believed him to be unconscious, in case he missed something which could offer him an advantage later.

The LEP interrogation room had changed little since his last visit and was as spartan as one would expect from a room designed for the sole purpose of intimidating suspected criminals and offered little in the way of comfort. The only furniture within the room was the table and chairs at which he was currently sat and in front of Artemis the only feature to stand out from the gray walls was a one way mirror, behind which he had to assume the interrogation was being observed by other officers. Behind him was only the door through which he assumed he had entered, and which was now guarded by two particularly unfriendly looking jumbo pixies.

_Hardly a reassuring assessment. _

Before Artemis could observe further Trouble noticed that he had regained consciousness and took that as a cue to start the interrogation. The Commander's voice was steady as he read out the charges but Artemis could clearly detect the barely suppressed hatred in his expression.

"Artemis Fowl The Second, you are charged with planning and arranging the murder of Captain Holly Short and you are furthermore charged with the murder of five civilians and twelve charges of grievous bodily harm. I am required by law to ask you how you would like to plea but I'll give you a clue Fowl, the answer is guilty."

Artemis took a second to mentally compose himself and provided the Commander with his most vampiric smile before replying.

"I am afraid Commander that we must disagree on that as I am most certainly not guilty. Before you start threatening me and the Major begins what I'm sure will be an exceptionally convincing 'good cop' routine allow me to save us all the bother, it will achieve nothing."Artemis smiled again but hastily continued before the Commander, who looked ready to commit murder himself, could cut him off.

"Also I appreciate that this may be somewhat awkward from a purely pragmatic perspective but I really must insist on having my lawyer present before we proceed any further; you should be able to locate him at his London office..."

Artemis delivered this speech with the practiced smoothness of an experienced barrister and neither his voice nor his eyes betrayed the emotions that he was struggling to contain at the loss of his closest friend.

_Concentrate now and worry about emotions later. Either Holly is dead or she isn't, either way I can neither help nor avenge her if I am found guilty and my memory is wiped. _

Sensing that his commanding officer was too angry to reply without resorting to physical violence Major Darkleaf decided to intervene.

"Alright Fowl, I'll level with you, we have plenty of evidence proving you to be behind this attack. To be perfectly honest your confession is only really a formality right now. We have your DNA on the only gun to be recovered from the scene, we have several eye witnesses prepared to testify that the Dwarf responsible for shooting Captain Short incriminated you and Foaly has traced numerous payments from an account which we know you hold in Haven, to the dwarf we captured earlier. Soon he will also be awake and able to give us a full testimony."

"Firstly Major, I would never be foolish enough to leave so much evidence pointing back to myself and secondly, if that were indeed the case then I seriously doubt we would be having this conversation. Evidently sufficient doubt remains to prevent you from incarcerating or memory wiping me." Artemis had struck a nerve and when Darkleaf next replied it was clear that the good cop act had been precisely that, an act.

"There's still time yet Mud Boy, we _will _get justice and I'm going to enjoy seeing you suffer." Before Artemis could respond, Trouble Kelp put down the radio into which he had been speaking and turned to face him again, grinning from ear to ear as he did so.

"Looks like you were right after all Mud Turd - you won't be remembering this conversation. In fact very soon you won't be able to remember an awful lot of things. In light of the evidence against you and the threat that you pose to The People _etcetera etcetera_ the Council have just authorised us to perform a block mind wipe and relocation – I'm sure a genius like you can work out what that means but I'll give you some time to think on the implications while we get the equipment ready."

Chuckling to himself and in the best mood he had been in for weeks Trouble left Artemis in stunned silence as he got up from the table and turned towards the door. Caught off guard as he was by this latest development Artemis knew that he had only one chance to convince Trouble of his innocence.

"Wait Commander! If I ordered this killing then why? What would I possibly stand to gain from Holly's death? Someone else is responsible for this and they have evidently calculated correctly that your dislike for me would lead you to assume that I was responsible thus preventing further investigation."

Trouble paused for a second, his hand hovering above the sensor to unlock the door and a slither of doubt seemed to enter his mind before he shook his head once and stepped through the door. As the solid steel doors slid shut behind the Commander Artemis Fowl slumped back against the wall, all fight gone from him.

In the past he could almost certainly have devised a plan to escape and foil the LEP but with Holly gone it was hard to find the will to act. It may have been his plans which had foiled Spiro, Cudgeon, Koboi and Root but Holly had always been the driving force propelling him onwards, giving him purpose, and without her Artemis realised that he felt truly lost. The reality of Holly's death had not truly hit him until that moment and his legs suddenly seemed incapable of holding his weight causing him to slide to the floor with his back propped against the wall.

Head resting against the cold stone wall, he closed his eyes in an attempt to stem the tears which threatened to come. With one hand he fingered the gold coin with a hole through the centre, which he had worn since Holly gave it to him in gratitude for saving her trigger finger. All he had left of Holly now were memories and even those would be gone soon, destroyed in penance for a crime he could never have committed.

_I have failed you Holly. _

XXXX

**Haven General Hospital, Haven (One hour earlier)**

Recovering from a major healing will leave anyone feeling groggy and Holly Short was certainly no exception. Her head felt as if it were being compressed by a bull troll and the rest of her wasn't in much better shape. As she slowly regained consciousness she began to take note of her surroundings. She appeared to be laying in a bed underneath an intolerably bright examination light and was attached to a small suite of monitoring equipment.

_A hospital, still alive then at least. Not a bad start, considering.  
_

A quick check confirmed that all fingers and toes were in fact still attached and functioning. Despite the general grogginess, aching and nausea which could be attributed to the healing, Holly had to admit that she felt remarkably better than she had any right to be.

Before she could compose herself further however the metallic doors slid silently open to admit the LEPs resident technical consultant and one of Holly's closest friends – Foaly. Foaly was renowned for many things within the Lower Elements but remaining calm in stressful situations certainly wasn't one of them; nonetheless his current agitation was impressive even by his standards.

"Holly, you're awake! Thank Frond. Considering all the magic they pumped into you and I mean, you weren't even breathing when the medics got there...Obviously it's good to see you awake again but _everything _is wrong! I can' t believe it, I don't want to believe it and to be honest it doesn't make any sense but Trouble won't listen to me and – "

"Foaly I have just woken up from a magically induced coma and I can't even begin to describe how much my head hurts right now, so calm down and explain what's wrong or so help me Frond when I get out of this bed you will regret it...". Even bed bound, an angry Holly Short was still a force to be reckoned with but Foaly was agitated and as his father had been fond of telling him '_there's no reasoning with an agitated centaur.'_

"Right, of course! Artemis Fowl springs four dwarven murderers from the Deeps, arms them with illegal weapons and recruits them to kill you whilst shooting up half of Haven in the process but hey, let's all blame the Centaur!"

Foaly continued in this manner for several minutes whilst becoming increasingly less coherent and more agitated but Holly wasn't listening.

_Artemis recruited them to kill me? I don't believe it, not after everything we've been through together._

Even as she thought this however Holly couldn't help but remember the words of her would-be killer.

'_Artemis Fowl sends his regards..'_

Holly was prevented from further thought by the arrival of a second visitor – newly appointed Commander Trouble Kelp. Where Foaly had seemed agitated Trouble's overriding emotion was plainly anger, tinged with concern. In keeping with his typical style the Commander wasted no time on pleasantries and plunged immediately into briefing mode.

"Good to see you back with us Holly, I have to confess that you had me worried for a while. From what the medics told me you suffered a collapsed lung, significant haemorrhaging and severe cardiac trauma, whatever that's supposed to mean." Trouble was visibly tired and Holly knew that he wouldn't have left the office since the attack earlier; preferring to remain and oversee everything personally. During the Koboi crisis a year earlier, Trouble had gone seventy two hours without sleep whilst surviving on energy drinks from the vending machine in Police Plaza.

"Thanks Troub-Commander. How long was I out? Do we know who was behind the attack? Foaly mentioned Artemis but that can't be right." With considerable effort Holly pushed herself up onto her elbows and Trouble propped a pillow behind her back to help her sit upright. Foaly whinnied indignantly and stamped a hoof at the implication that his information could possibly be wrong, but was quickly silenced by a look from the Commander.

"It's Trouble when we're off-duty Holly and before you argue with me, being hospitalised counts." Trouble smiled disarmingly.

"Sure thing, thanks Trouble." Holly smiled slightly despite the gravity of the situation. After all the years that she had known Trouble it was still strange to think of him as her commanding officer.

"Don't mention it. Now, to answer your questions, you were out for the best part of ten hours. I won't lie to you, we're damned lucky that you're alive at all and a lot of people thought you weren't going to make it. By some stroke of amazing good fortune we had deployed a team, with medical support, to a public disturbance in downtown Haven prior to the attack. They were on their way back to Police Plaza when the incident occurred and were able to intervene. Three of the mercs got away but we did manage to bag one of them; Foaly can fill you in on that later."

"And Artemis..?" Holly almost didn't want to hear the answer but she had to ask.

_No matter what they say, he didn't do it. _

"That D'Arvitting Mud Whelp is as guilty as a dwarf in a jewellery store! He is a threat to the people and this time he's gone too far, don't worry Holly, he won't get away with this."

Trouble's tone brooked no argument but Holly wasn't prepared to give up that easily - she _knew _that Artemis couldn't be responsible. Even at his worse he had never been a killer and he had changed, hadn't he? Then again Artemis Fowl had died and for all she knew the boy currently residing in Fowl Manor could be an imposter wearing his skin, with nothing of _her_ Artemis really remaining. It had been so long since she had seen him...

_D'Arvit!_ _I need to see you Artemis. None of this is right. I have to believe that you didn't do this. _

"Ok, Trouble I know that you don't like Artemis but I don't think we should jump to conclusions..."

"Damn right I don't _like _him! Holly, Artemis just committed genocide against the People; how can you possibly _defend_ him?" The commander met Holly's gaze, pleading with his eyes for her to let the argument rest although they both knew that was never going to happen. It simply wasn't in Holly's character to let anything rest if she felt that an injustice was occurring and she had never felt that more than she did now.

"Let me be clear on my - "

"No Holly, let _me_ be clear, this is my decision and it isn't open to debate. At any rate the call has already been made. A retrieval team was on surface preparing to look into some concerns Foaly had about a recent Mud Man expedition to the Antarctic and I redeployed them to bring Fowl in as soon as we heard about the attack. He's languishing in a cell under Police Plaza right now. With any luck he might even be conscious by the time I get back." Trouble shot Holly his trademark grin which she had once found so charming, now it just made her want to punch him.

The conversation was deteriorating fast and Foaly knew it but before he could think of anything to say to defuse the situation Holly realised the implications of what Trouble had said.

"...He_ might _be conscious?!"

"Be careful Captain. I'm prepared to be lenient considering what you've just been through but you're dangerously close to insubordination right now. Fowl is guilty and his continued knowledge of us is a danger to the People. I intend to have him block wiped and relocated, somewhere appropriately dismal; right now I like the sound of Siberia. The Council are in the process of discussing the matter, it's out of my hands now. I'm sorry Holly but you're too close to the Mud Whelp, this is for the greater good."

As the implications of the Commander's words hit her Holly felt numb with dread.

_A block mind wipe and relocation, every memory irretrievably lost. He would forget me all over again._

"You're making a massive mistake here_ Commander_. How can you talk about _the greater good _considering everything that Artemis has done _for_ the People?!"

"This discussion is over Captain, I don't want to hear anything else about Fowl and yes that is an order." All semblance of levity was now gone, Trouble was deadly serious but Holly couldn't back down, too much was at stake.

_He wouldn't give up on me. _

"I can't accept that Commander, if I could just see him and-"

"ENOUGH Holly, not another word! I swear if you were anyone else I'd have your acorn for this. You will remain here until such time as you are sufficiently recovered to report to my office, where I expect to have a _long _discussion about your position within Recon. Until that time you will remain under guard here; I doubt Fowl can orchestrate another attempt on your life from a prison cell but I'd rather be safe than sorry." By the time he had finished berating Holly the Commander's face had turned a shade of red that would have made his predecessor Julius Root proud.

To his credit Foaly did attempt to support Holly at this point but Trouble made it explicitly clear that any further argument on the matter would result in an immediate cessation of employment and the centaur was certain that he could do more to help his friends from within the Ops booth than outside it. It was with a heavy heart that Foaly followed Commander Trouble Kelp from the private room in Haven General Hospital and he could not help but feel that more than one friend was in danger here - if he knew Holly at all then she would not give up this easily. The Commander's day was about to get a whole lot worse.

XXXX

**Haven General Hospital, 30 minutes earlier**

Chix Verbill was not a typical LEP fairy; as far as he was concerned his job description involved doing as little work as possible, avoiding anything remotely dangerous and of course, looking good for the ladies.

For that reason his current duty, guarding Recon babe Captain Holly Short from an assassin that was already behind bars, suited Chix just perfectly. As the only female Captain in Recon and easily one of the most attractive fairies in the LEP, Holly Short was the focus of more than a little testosterone fuelled fantasy and (to Holly's ignorance) there existed an ongoing wager as to which fairy would be the first to persuade the 'Crazy Girlie Captain' to 'ride their shuttle'.

Chix had worked with Holly before, indeed she had saved his life shortly before the Bwa Kell rebellion (and if that didn't scream repressed desire then Chix Verbill was a troll!). As far as he was concerned this was the perfect opportunity to turn on the old Verbil charm, surely the Captain would be like putty in his hands. The wager would be his and that would certainly shut the rest of them up.

So distracted was he by fantasising about precisely how he would achieve his goal, Chix almost missed the increasingly vigorous knocking from the inside of the hospital door.

"Hello, can you hear me out there? I need to borrow the radio, it's urgent!" Holly certainly did sound concerned about something and Chix could never resist a damsel in distress. _Wait until I tell the guys! _he thought as he buzzed the door open. Unfortunately for Chix, Holly Short was not in the mood for wagers or flirtatious pixies.

"Sorry Verbil but this is important and there's no other way."

Even if Chix had immediately grasped the implications of Holly's statement there was almost no chance that his reactions would have been fast enough to avoid the uppercut which Holly landed on his chin. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.

Holly did experience a brief pang of guilt after hitting Chix but he would live and besides, there was much more at stake here than a few bruises and a headache. She paused only to remove the sprites' buzz baton and communicator before leaving in the direction of Police Plaza at a steady run, keying in a number that she knew all too well as she went.

_Hold on Artemis. For me. _

* * *

**Definitely enjoy writing cliffhangers, sorry! If you enjoyed the story so far (or even if you didn't but have a suggestion for improvement) then please leave a review and let me know. Particularly interested in how people found the Chix Verbil POV because I definitely found that the hardest part to write. **


	3. Grand Theft Mud-Man

**A/N: **_**Third chapter is up, massive thank you to those of you that have reviewed so far! Hope you all enjoy this chapter, it might be a while until I get the next one out as exams are starting to appear worryingly close now...(I should probablyyyy revise at some point). Anyway let me know what you think, please read and review (it really is appreciated!). **_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl, no copyright infringement or commercial gain is intended. **_

* * *

**Grand Theft Mud Man**

**LEP Interrogation Room, Haven**

So deeply was he buried within the mire of his despondent thoughts that Artemis hardly noticed the beep which signified the door to the interrogation room opening. Assuming that Trouble had returned to torment him and not wishing to give the Commander the satisfaction of seeing the evidence of his grief he chose to remain as he was with his back against the wall, knees drawn up to his chest and face covered within his hands. No doubt they would attribute his behaviour to guilt or fear of the mind wipe but in truth the only emotion that he could feel was a profound sense of loss and grief at the news of Holly's death. Without looking up Artemis could not see his visitor but he did hear as they entered the room; the small part of his rational mind not yet consumed by grief noted that the footfalls were softer than those of either Commander Kelp or Major Darkleaf from his earlier interrogation.

His grief-stricken subconscious conjured an image of Holly standing before him, her characteristic grin fixed firmly upon her place before she punched him jokingly on the arm. Consumed by such thoughts his mind turned unbidden to the words of a poem by Tennyson, _'I had a dream, a lovely dream, of her that in the grave is sleeping. I saw her as 'twas yesterday, the bloom upon her cheek still glowing.' _He had critically reviewed the poem once, commenting on the excessive romanticism of the imagery. The words seemed terribly appropriate now as he wrestled with the need to believe that Holly was still alive, to deny the inevitable ending of the poem when the reader must wake from his dream. His mystery visitor had by this point crossed from the doorway and he knew that he must collect himself and face them soon.

"Arty..." The voice which broke the silence was gentle and full of concern but also tense as if nervous, the sound sent shivers down his spine and caused his breath to catch in his throat. Even had she chosen not to use the pet name that only she and his mother had ever called him by there could be no doubt to whom that voice belonged, a voice that he had thought never to hear again. Despite the evidence of his ears Artemis hesitated before opening his eyes for to look and find the speaker to be any other than Holly or to realise that the voice was simply a product of his grief-stricken mind would almost feel like losing her again and he could not bear that. Steeling himself for the disappointment that he felt sure must come Artemis eased his hands gradually from his face. Crouching in front of him and appearing extremely lively for a dead person Holly was smiling anxiously and he belatedly noticed appeared to be wearing what could only be described as a hospital gown, clearly there had been some substance to the story of an attempt on her life.

As his brain accepted that she was indeed real and very much alive he felt all the grief of the last few hours disappear and as it did so Artemis was unable to contain the smile which spread across his tear-strewn face. His voice thick with emotion he found himself reciting the first line from the poem which had only a minute earlier seemed so tragically relevant and now took on a different meaning. "Te Somnia nostra reducunt" he whispered as he raised his eyes to meet Holly's concerned gaze, the beginnings of a wry smile playing on his lips. The line from Tennyson's poem seemed fitting to Artemis and the Latin rolled effortlessly off his tongue although he was momentarily concerned at the extent to which he had just revealed the depth of his feelings; Holly who had no difficulty translating the Latin due to the gift of tongues possessed by all fairies seemed less impressed.

"My dreams bring you back – lovely Arty but unfortunately we don't really have time for sonnets, any minute now the LEP are going to realise what I've done and I am _not_ sacrificing my career so they can just catch us and mind wipe you anyway." Her voice was playful but he had known her long enough to notice the poorly concealed stress beneath the facade of carelessness, once they were safe he would need to discover exactly what had happened today. Holly may be alive now but it was quite apparent that someone had tried to harm her and that same person had presumably attempted to frame Artemis for the deed. _You may believe that you hold all the cards now but whoever you are you should know that I pay my debts and before this is over you will regret ever deciding to cross me, _Artemis forced such thoughts from his mind for the time being and turned his attention back to Holly.

"Technically it isn't a sonnet but under the circumstances I suppose that doesn't really matter. They told me you were _dead_ Holly, they said that I was responsible...I could never have done that." Artemis mentally scolded himself for the force of emotion contained within the last few words but Holly didn't seem to care, he met her gaze and knew that she believed him entirely and unreservedly. As far as he was concerned the rest of the world could think what they liked, it was enough that _she _believed him.

"I know and trust me we need to discuss that but this really isn't the time or _place_." That wasn't what Artemis wanted to hear, it was all he could do to stop himself from pulling her to him and kissing her until he was satisfied that she was truly alive and then never letting her go again. He was only prevented from doing so by the memory of her words, '_your elf kissing days are over' _and was struck once more by the realisation of just how much his foolish lack of trust in his friend had cost him_. _With an effort of will he pushed such thoughts from his mind, the more pragmatic issue of Holly's involvement in any escape still needed to be addressed.

"I can't let you do this Holly, I won't let you throw away your career, your friends and your home…_everything _for me."

"Seriously Artemis, you choose now of all times to decide to develop a conscience? Considering that I've already had to disobey a direct order and incapacitate two LEP officers in order to get this far, I think we can safely assume that my career is beyond salvageable whether or not we add escaping with a known felon to the list. Anyway you aren't letting me do anything Arty, I'm choosing to do it and there isn't a thing you can do to stop me."

He tried to protest further but by this point Holly was kneeling on the floor beside him and she placed a single finger over his lips which abruptly silenced whatever Artemis had intended to say next. Smiling almost shyly she reminded him of the words she had spoken years before when they had been trapped in the past together.

"I can't do without you, remember?" Holly whispered gently, then more forcefully "Now pull yourself together and let me get those cuffs off before someone notices the missing guard."

How could he argue with her? Holly was right, all they could hope to do now was escape and try to discover who was really behind the attempt on her life and why they had framed Artemis for it. Clearing his name would by extent clear her own. Unable to contradict her reasoning he chose instead to submit his handcuffed wrists for her to unlock. As she leaned in to input the code for the handcuffs he couldn't help but be overwhelmed by her proximity, the scent of grass and citrus, the way her hair tickled his cheek as she leaned over him, the tingling sensation as her fingers brushed against his arm...

The handcuffs disengaged with a faint click which Artemis felt certain must be less audible than the frantic beating of his heart. Before he truly considered what he was doing his recently liberated hand was on Holly's cheek and he found himself staring into her mismatched eyes. O_ne hazel and one blue, whatever else happens we will always be a part of each other_. Reflected in those eyes he saw a mix of emotions: surprise, apprehension and dare he hope, desire? The tension between them was palpable, the maelstrom of despair and relief which had built up during the last twenty four hours all came to the fore in that instant and for once Artemis Fowl found himself buoyed along on a tidal wave of emotion with all reason, rationality and caution thrown to the wind.

"Artemis I..." When she spoke, eyes still locked with his own Holly's voice was thick with uncertainty but Artemis was too committed to stop now. _Carpe diem _he thought wryly as he leant forward, their lips less than an inch apart...

"When you two lovebirds have finished getting _reacquainted _maybe we could get back to the _escaping the heavily guarded police headquarters _part of the plan?"

Artemis may not have exactly _planned _to kiss Holly in the prison cell but in the slight delay between his hormone driven mind arriving at the decision to act and his body actually responding to that decision he had nonetheless considered most potential outcomes of doing so – the most probable being that Holly would punch him in the face. He had most definitely not considered the possibility that the moment could be ruined by the sound of Mulch Diggums' voice emanating from the personal communicator on Holly's wrist. Although internally furious that Mulch had unwittingly interrupted what he calculated had at least a 22.5% probability of being a romantic moment with Holly, Artemis was nonetheless able to appreciate the irony that the dwarf's joke was infinitely closer to the truth than he could possibly realise.

XXX

_His hand is on my face anddddd he's staring into my eyes with that insanely gorgeous look that makes my heart feel like it's about to burst out of my chest...No! I am a professional LEP officer, I am __**not**__ about to kiss a teenage Mud Boy who also happens to be public enemy number one in the middle of Police Plaza during the most critical phase of this operation...Frond, what am I doing?! _

In spite of her inhibitions Holly was finding it increasingly difficult to think coherently as his fingers artfully traced the contours of her jaw, his face now mere inches from her own, so close that she could smell the faintly masculine musk of his aftershave, close enough to taste the mint on his breath...

"Artemis I..." _Can't do this? Can't live without this? Really, really wish this was happening anywhere other than here and now?! _

In the end Holly was spared the need to complete her sentence by the communicator on her wrist.

"When you two lovebirds have finished getting _reacquainted _maybe we could get back to the _escaping the heavily guarded police headquarters _part of the plan?"

_Mulch, D'Arvit! _ The moment was over, irretrievably lost and all things considered that was probably for the best...The thought of Foaly or worse still Trouble walking in and seeing them now caused Holly to sober up extremely quickly, although her voice still shook slightly as she replied to Mulch.

"Copy that Mulch we're on our way, ETA three minutes if everything goes smoothly, over."

"Hey, take your time, what do I care? It's not like I'm having to wait around in a refuge pit while you commit grand theft Mud Boy". From the muffled tone of his voice it was clear that Mulch had found something to eat while he waited for them, wisely Holly chose not to ask what that might be.

Effortlessly hopping back to her feet she watched with poorly concealed amusement as Artemis struggled to his with a great deal less grace. After straightening his shirt and rubbing his wrists which were presumably still sore from the cuffs Artemis turned back to her and grinned in clear amusement at something despite the circumstances.

"Smoothly?" he asked with one eyebrow raised questioningly, "when does anything we do _ever_ go smoothly_?_"

"Speak for yourself Mud Boy, whenever you aren't involved my reconnaissance missions go just fine."

"Hamburg went _just fine_, Holly..?" Artemis smiled wickedly. _Damn it but I wish he was less cute when he's being irritating! _

"That's...Oh never mind! Mulch is right about needing to move, any minute now someone is going to notice us on the cameras even if they haven't missed Chix yet." While she was talking Holly removed the layer of cam foil with which she had been concealing a large (by fairy standards) wheeled container upon which the words 'Contaminated Waste' could clearly be discerned and positioned the container next to Artemis who looking as he was towards the door and clearly deep in thought did not notice the sudden appearance.

"Mulch...Didn't he say he was waiting for us in a _refuge pi- _oh" turning as he spoke Artemis suddenly noticed the container behind him and immediately ascertained Holly's plan.

"Holly please tell me that you aren't planning on us escaping Police Plaza through the refuge chute?" The mocking tone was now completely absent from his voice. Holly knew precisely how much he wasn't going to like this plan but there really weren't all that many ways to sneak a suspected terrorist out of Police Plaza...the fact that this particular approach involved dumping Artemis in a huge heap of compost was simply a hugely entertaining bonus!

"You didn't seriously expect us to take the front door did you?" Holly tried to sound innocent but could not suppress a mischievous wink as she stepped to one side, putting Artemis between herself and the container and simultaneously unhooking the buzz baton she had taken from Chix Verbil after escaping from the hospital.

"Sorry Arty but this needs to look convincing for the cameras, there can't be any doubt that I _chose_ to break you out of here."

"Holly wait, I'm sure I can…" Holly didn't wait for Artemis to finish his sentence, they had wasted enough time already. Deciding that the kindest way to do this was with as little warning as possible she suddenly lunged forwards catching him completely off-guard and delivering a charge from her buzz baton to the base of his spine, effectively stunning him instantly. As the charge temporarily paralysed his muscles Artemis toppled backwards against the open container behind him, precisely as Holly had planned. Unfortunately what Holly had not planned on was the amount of weight Artemis had gained since she had seen him last. Although still skinny and not particularly tall at roughly 5 feet and 8 inches it still required every ounce of strength that Holly possessed to lift him far enough that his waist tipped over the edge of the container – much to Holly's relief gravity took over from that point. Deciding that if she was going down anyway then she might as well go out in style Holly turned to face the camera that had recorded her incapacitating Artemis and sketched a mock salute then in a final act of rebellion blew a kiss. _I wish I could see Trouble's face when he reviews the footage _Holly thought, grinning despite the seriousness of the situation.

Once Artemis was securely ensconced within the container it was a simple matter for Holly to cover it once more with the cam foil, concealing herself would however be another matter. She had been able to enter Police Plaza inconspicuously enough through a combination of shielding and using her LEP ID to bypass the various security doors but her tank had been running low even before the attack in the park earlier and in truth she was surprised she had managed to get to the interrogation room without dropping her shield. More concerning however was the fact that her current apparel consisted of a thin hospital gown which had already been severely shaken from her previous shielding, civilian clothing was never designed for prolonged shielding and Holly reckoned the gown had a couple of minutes left at best, after that she would be wearing her birthday suit and if her shield should fail then Artemis or anyone else that happened to be in the area would certainly be getting an eyeful. Unfortunately procuring a LEP suit was out of the question, it would be almost impossible to gain access to the equipment lockers without being detected and even if she did it would quickly be noticed that the suit was missing. Avoiding detection by the LEP once above surface would be hard enough as it was without painting a highly detectable and remotely destructible figurative bullseye on her chest for them.

_Frond...I'm really doing this, if I walk out of that door with Artemis then there is no going back, I'll be on the run from the LEP. _With an effort of will Holly forced herself to put aside the potential repercussions of escaping with Artemis for the time being and allowed her training to take over – when attempting to escape hostile territory set yourself goals and focus on the immediate task in front of you, worry about the next step when you get there. Abandoning Artemis had never really been an option anyway, she had cried herself to sleep every night for weeks following his death and there wasn't a force on or under the Earth that could compel her to go through grief like that again if there was anything that she could do to avoid it.

As she skilfully manoeuvred the concealed container through the corridors of Police Plaza, carefully dodging the occasional police officer in the process, it occurred to Holly that the words her adolescent self had spoken so flippantly to Artemis in the past were terrifyingly true – she really couldn't do without him. She had already broken just about every regulation worth breaking for Artemis, trusted him with her life when she would never have trusted anyone else and would have given her life in his place at the Berserker Gate had he not outwitted her; now she was about to turn her back on everything and everyone that she had ever known _for him. _Admittedly this wasn't technically the first time that she had been on the run from the LEP but she had been the one framed when Julius was murdered and had little choice in the matter, this time her exile would be entirely voluntary. _If we both survive this then I'm going to take a really long holiday_ Holly thought as she struggled to maintain control of the container and her rapidly deteriorating shield at the same time. Just as she was convinced that she wouldn't be able to hold her shield any longer and would have to streak for the remaining distance (in which case it would probably be preferable to remain in exile indefinitely anyway) they finally arrived at the main organic recycling chute for Police Plaza, from the mildly perturbed sounds emanating from within the container it seemed that Artemis had also woken up at last, _just in time _she thought wickedly.

It was the work of seconds to deactivate the recycling mechanism effectively turning the chute into a tunnel connecting the main building of Police Plaza to the vast cave which served as a compost pit below. With that task completed Holly turned her attention to Artemis and prized open the lid of the concealed container to reveal an extremely disgruntled teenage genius.

"Please Holly" Artemis grumbled as he struggled from the container, "Tell me that the next phase of this truly masterful plan does not involve any further physical harm to my person because honestly a mind wipe might be preferable." Holly reasoned that actually stunning Artemis may in hindsight have been slightly excessive but it _had _seemed like the best idea at the time. Unfortunately it seemed pretty unlikely that he was going to like phase two of the great escape any better.

"Sorry Arty but it had to be done, if it makes you feel any better then I'm pretty sure you're going to be the last person I'm allowed to stun for a very long time." As her words sunk in Artemis' expression changed from one of indignation to one of guilt.

"Of course, your career. It isn't too late to hand me in Holly; you could plausibly claim that I compelled you to help me somehow, I imagine Trouble will believe whatever you tell him."

"It is too late Artemis, I made my choice." _I made that choice when I disobeyed every rule ever written to bring you back...I'm hardly going to let you go now you stupid genius. _

Artemis was facing the chute and despite his exceptional poker face Holly knew him well enough to tell that he was locked in a battle between conflicting emotions. Any second now the alarm would be raised and her shield would fail and however conflicted her feelings for the Mud Boy might be right now she certainly wasn't ready for _that_. Being caught would also be fairly inconvenient.

"I do believe that I have a say in this as well Holly...Has it occurred to you that _I _might want to sacrifice myself for _you _for a change?"

"Yes Arty it has and that's precisely why I'm not letting you have a say." Holly's supply of magic was virtually completely exhausted and despite her best efforts small parts of her were begin to wink into existence as her shield failed. Deciding that there was no time left for further discussion she placed both hands firmly on the small of Artemis' back and shoved with as much force as her slight frame could muster. Her shield finally failed at the same instant that Artemis tipped over the edge into the chute.

XXXX

For the second time that day Artemis found himself shoved off balance and falling, however this time he hadn't been electrocuted and the fall was considerably longer. Even whilst plummeting headfirst down a chute designed for rubbish his rational brain was calculating; a fall of this distance onto any hard surface would almost certainly be fatal and as it was unlikely that Holly would have rescued him only to murder him immediately afterwards the logical conclusion was that something soft would break his fall. Unfortunately the 'something soft' in this instance transpired to be a large pile of what could only be described as compost. _My shirt is ruined _he thought sardonically, _I doubt even Butler could get this stain out. _Mentally chastising himself Artemis realised that he had not considered the bodyguard until now, Butler was certain to be out of his mind with worry given the nature of Artemis' departure and the time that had subsequently elapsed. His thoughts on this matter were however cut short seconds later when Holly shot out of the chute above and collided with him. Despite the fact that Holly was now much lighter than Artemis she still impacted with sufficient force to drive the air from his lungs and render him temporarily incapable of speech.

In the second that it took it took for his brain to process that he was in fact trapped beneath a very naked elf Holly had already rolled away and when he caught sight of her again she appeared to be entirely invisible with the exception of her head. _She must be wearing the cam foil _Artemis correctly deduced before quickly deciding that he needed to look elsewhere when he noticed the glare that Holly was giving him. _Incredible _he thought to himself as he fought to control the sudden rush of hormones threatening to eclipse all rational thought. _Even covered in compost, angry and wrapped in cam foil she is still the most heart-stoppingly beautiful creature I have ever seen. _

Fortunately for all involved any further awkwardness between the two was prevented by the sudden appearance of a previously cloaked shuttle from behind the veritable mountain of compost. As the cockpit door slid open Artemis immediately recognised his old friend and partner in crime Mulch Diggums, frustratingly he found that he could not however recall the identity of the pixie piloting the shuttle although he was certain that they had met before. _Probably residual amnesia from the resurrection _he reasoned.

"s'about time you two got here" Mulch grunted as he clambered down from the shuttle with all the grace that would be expected from a troll ballerina, 'my bum was going numb we spent long sat in that cockpit and when a dwarf gets a numb bum…"

"I'm sure we can imagine, thank you Mulch. I assume that this…thing is supposed to be our 'getaway vehicle'." The 'thing' in question appeared to Artemis to be a large black shuttle, easily twice the size of the fast LEP shuttles with which he had become familiar with the shuttle parked in front of them would have looked more at home in a scrapheap than the LEP garage. The sprite that Artemis was still struggling to identify had by this point followed Mulch out of the shuttle and joined the conversation.

"This _'thing' _might not look like much Mud Boy but she's faster than she looks and there's not a single thing in here that the D'Arviting LEP can track – err no offence intended Captain!"

Holly waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it Doodah, in case you hadn't noticed the LEP and I aren't exactly the best of friends right now."

_Doodah…_Artemis thought, he had a vague recollection of the pixie driving a rocket-powered toy car but the gap in his memory persisted frustratingly. Before he could give the matter further consideration he was distracted by the unmistakable sound of alarms emanating from the LEP headquarters above them.

"D'Arvit!" Holly swore emphatically before jumping (as gracefully as it is possible to jump whilst wrapped in cam foil) into the recently vacated cockpit and promptly disappearing from sight. When she appeared again less than a minute later the cam foil had been abandoned and she was wearing a moss green t-shirt and khaki trousers, the civilian clothes were a far cry from the LEP uniform that Artemis was used to seeing her in.

"Thanks Mulch, glad you got my message about the clothes, did you have any trouble getting them? Artemis hurry up and get in!" Artemis scrambled to obey, motivated by the alarm which if anything seemed to have increased in volume.

Mulch laughed as he watched Artemis practically fall into the cockpit and attempt to strap himself in next to Holly who was already rapidly performing pre-flight checks.

"Are you kidding Holly? A blind goblin could have broken into your apartment! Maybe you should invest in some proper security when you two get back from your honeymoon." Mulch clearly thought this joke was amusing but the glare he received from Holly in reply was enough to make him think twice about his follow up line involving a human rhyme about golden carriages.

"I may not be LEP right now Mulch but so help me Frond…You two need to get out of here anyway, it isn't going to be long before the LEP realise how we escaped and send a squad down here." Artemis watched from the cockpit window as Mulch, still laughing, led the sprite away from the main shuttle towards a dwarf sized tunnel in the side of the cave which appeared to have been recently constructed.

As their helpers retreated from view Holly sealed the cockpit door and eased the throttle on causing the shuttle to lift off the cave floor.

"Ok Arty, there is an old disused tunnel connecting this cave to chute E20, from there we should have a clear run to the surface. There's no way to avoid tripping Foaly's sensors when we enter the chute but the LEP shouldn't be able to track us after that."

"And when we get to the surface, what then Holly? Fowl Manor is out of the question as it's sure to be the first place the LEP will check."

"I have a place in mind." Holly smiled tentatively but Artemis could see the difference in her body language, the way her shoulders tensed ever so slightly and her fingers flexed subconsciously on the controls...Clearly wherever their destination may be it held some personal significance for Holly, Artemis filed the information for later.

"Hold on to your breakfast Arty, this ride is going to get pretty wild!" All semblance of nerves now gone Holly grinned as she steered the illegal shuttle over the precipice and dropped into the magma chute.

XXX

Mulch paused at the mouth of the tunnel and watched as his friends disappeared from view into the magma chute and laughed again, shaking his head slightly in quiet disbelief. Doodah shot him a quizzical look "what's so funny?"

"You don't see it?" Mulch grunted in reply "they're blatantly crazy about each other, it's written all over their faces, the way they look at each other…Doesn't take a centaur to work it out." Shaking his head again and smiling despite himself Mulch dived headfirst into the tunnel, leaving a very confused Doodah Day to follow in his wake. Interspecies romance might be completely weird and wrong on just about every level Mulch could imagine but if any two individuals could make it work then it would be those two.

XXXX

**Ops Booth Police Plaza, Haven**

"Give me good news Foaly, are we ready to mind wipe that little Mud Whelp? I've got a really _nice _spot picked out for his relocation." Commander Trouble Kelp's mood had improved immeasurably since Foaly had seen him last at the interrogation of Artemis, clearly the Commander was more than a little pleased to have the opportunity to finally remove the Mud Boy from the picture. Trouble could claim what he liked about the greater good of The People but personally Foaly was convinced that he had it in mind to be more than simply friends and colleagues with Holly and secretly resented how close she and Artemis evidently were, _not that Artemis is exactly competition for Trouble _he thought with more than a little amusement _even Holly isn't crazy enough to fall for a Mud Man! _

"It does take time to get something like this prepared Trouble, I know you Retrieval types like to imagine that I can just press a big button and _wham! _ things magically happen but-"

"Foaly, I really don't care about how complicated it is, just get it done before I decide to stop feeling so generous and just shoot the little brat instead and take the clean-up bill out of your budget."

Foaly pawed the floor nervously at the last remark, it was extremely unlikely that Trouble would make good on the threat but the centaur did not appreciate threats to his budget – or his friends for that matter and as much as it had surprised him to realise it he really did count Artemis Fowl as a friend. At least Fowl appreciated his genius, unlike some fairies he could think of...

To Foaly's relief Trouble seemed willing to leave him in peace until the mind wipe was ready, unfortunately it was at that precise moment that Chix Verbil appeared on the comm screen causing Trouble to pause on his way out of the Ops Booth, _probably hoping for an apology from Holly _Foaly thought irritably _dream on Commander. _

"Verbil! How is the Captain doing? Has she seen the error of her ways?"

_Eugh _Foaly thought _pass me the bucket! _

"Yeahhhh, about that, Commander...She erm, well, you see, she, it's just that, I mean..." Chix was visibly distraught and unable to control his wings resulting in intermittent hovering, suffice it to say that Trouble was not impressed.

"Verbil cut the crap and report NOW! Has something happened to Holly?!"

"Gone, she's gone! I'm sorry Commander!" All pretence at self-control had now disappeared entirely and Chix appeared to be hovering against the ceiling of Haven General Hospital, the colour visibly disappeared from Trouble's face as he processed Chix's message.

"D'Arvit! Foaly bring up the security feed for the interrogation room, Verbil get yourself back to Police Plaza asap, I'll deal with you later."

Foaly felt pretty confident about what the security feed from the interrogation room would show and he seriously doubted that it would do anything to improve the Commander's mood, nonetheless there was only one way to be sure...

As soon as the live camera feed appeared on the screen Foaly knew that his fears had been entirely justified, the room was clearly completely vacant, Fowl was gone. If Foaly was worried (and secretly quite relieved) to see that Artemis had escaped then Trouble looked as if he was liable to spontaneously combust. When he spoke his voice was deadly quiet and Foaly thought, resigned.

"Rewind the footage Foaly."

"Commander we know Fowl is gone, surely we don't need to…"

"I said rewind the footage Foaly, I don't expect to ask twice." They both knew what the footage would show and Foaly had no desire to incriminate Holly but with Trouble stood next to him he had no option other than to obey the command and rewind the camera feed back to the last point at which Artemis had been within the interrogation room. As he watched the footage the Commander's shoulders visibly drooped and for a second the fight seemed to leave him.

"I want retrieval one suited up and prepped for a surface pursuit asap, all ports out of Haven are on full lockdown effective immediately and I want you to review all cameras within Police Plaza. I need to know how the hell Short got in and out without us noticing." Trouble hesitated, clearly torn over the decision to give the next order and looked back at the paused screenshot of Holly sketching a mock salute to the camera. He exhaled deeply before continuing, the anger previously present in his voice now replaced with something that sounded an awful lot like sadness to Foaly.

"Put an arrest warrant out for Holly Short for aiding and abetting a known criminal and treason against the People, all LEP access is to be revoked forthwith." Foaly wanted to argue but knew that Trouble could not be swayed on this, the Commander looked ready to kill.

"Somehow this is all Fowl's doing and I _will _ensure that he regrets it. Damn it but we will bring her back Foaly, whatever it takes. I expect you to inform me the instant you have a lead on where they're going, is that clear?"

"Sure Commander, will do." Trouble grunted non-commitally and spared the screen a last glance before exiting the Ops Booth, leaving Foaly alone once more with his thoughts. As soon as the security door closed behind Trouble Foaly returned his attention to the video recording of Holly escaping with Artemis. The centaur carefully reviewed the footage as he rewound back from the point of escape to Holly's initial appearance in the room, searching for anything that could help him to understand why all of this was happening. Trouble could give all the orders he liked, Foaly knew that his friends were innocent and if he could do anything to help them then he would. Pausing the footage with a deft stroke of his virtual keyboard Foaly stared in horror at what he saw on the screen before him. _Maybe the camera is faulty _was Foaly's initial reaction, immediately followed by _impossible, I designed that camera_. Of course this meant that unless he was hallucinating then he had to accept that in the footage he was currently watching Artemis looked for all the world as if he was about to kiss Holly and worse still, _infinitely_ worse, if Foaly didn't know better then he would have sworn that Holly looked like she _wanted_ him to! _Oh Holly _he thought anxiously_, I really hope you know what you're doing..._

* * *

_**A/N: Hope you all enjoyed that (it took me forever to write), as usual if you've read this far then please let me know what you thought with a review (especially if you want to read more, reviews really help to combat writers block, FACT!). I have exams until the 10**__**th**__** of June now so no promises on the next update unfortunately, sorry if anyone is following this :( **_

_**Really hope you don't all think Artemis is really OOC in this, given his reaction when Butler died (and he was convinced that he could reverse that) I thought it was reasonable to portray him as being quite emotional at the news that Holly is dead, even if he wouldn't show it much outwardly. Also if anyone is interested then the poem by Tennyson is 'Ask ye why these sad tears stream' and is well worth checking out if you haven't read it before. **_

_**Response to reviews: **_

**ShaddiaThePrincessOfWeird: Of course Holly can't die, what do you take me for!? Hope you're still enjoying it, as you're currently accounting for 50% of total reviews I'm awarding you number one fan status ;) **

**Liris: Thanks, that's really nice of you to say, although I know that I can still develop my writing. Hope you like the new chapter :) **

**Fanster: Thanks! You don't know how motivating it is to hear that! **


	4. Spirit Island

**A/N: * Edited to include the changes recommended by Liris who was kind enough to Beta this, thanks! :) * **

**I should probably clarify before I go any further that I have never personally visited Spirit Island (or indeed Canada full stop, a crying shame which I fully intend to rectify this summer) although it does have sentimental significance for me, if my second-hand description falls utterly short then I can only apologise to any Canadian readers (apparently there are quite a lot of you!). **

**As the **_**vast**_** majority of readers seem to be from either the US, UK or Canada I'm thinking of setting a chapter in each country, there will obviously be a chapter in London (indisputably the most amazing city in the world, sorry New Yorkers ;) ) and this chapter is set in Canada so if anyone has any suggestions for where to set a chapter in the US then please feel free to share them with me. I'm currently toying with Mt Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Disney, Boston or Washington DC but other suggestions are more than welcome :) **

**Having said that, I really hope that you all enjoy the next chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it (I had this scene in mind from the beginning and really wanted to get to it earlier) and as always, please read and review! I will reply to all reviews at the end of each subsequent chapter as I think this is quite a nice way of doing it – believe me I really do appreciate them and will try to act on any feedback. It's thanks to you guys that I'm still persevering with this so please keep them coming! Really sorry that it's taken so long to get up but yeah...exams :\**

* * *

**Spirit Island**

As he inspected their surroundings Artemis decided that he had to hand it to Holly, she had certainly managed to choose one of the most spectacular locations on the planet for their hideout. Nestled amongst the pristine snow-capped peaks of the Canadian Rockies and surrounded by a dense forest of majestic pine trees there could be no denying the enchanting natural beauty of Lake Maligne. A small island stood out amongst the turquoise waters of the glacial lake which lapped serenely against the shore, stopping only inches short of Artemis' loafers as he reclined against a pine tree and contemplated the events of the past twenty four hours.

Considering that less than twelve hours ago he had been held in fairy custody awaiting a mind wipe for the crime of organising the attempted assassination of his best friend, Artemis was forced to admit that on measure he should probably be glad to only be a fugitive from the most technologically advanced police force on the planet, although _camping _would certainly take some getting used to.

Much remained unclear regarding the events which had resulted in their current predicament and Artemis certainly did not appreciate being made to feel like a pawn in someone else's game, that was a situation which would have to change and soon...At least some satisfaction could be taken from the conclusion that Holly's survival and his own continued liberty had almost certainly confounded their elusive adversary's plans to some extent.

Unfortunately further planning would have to wait until more basic needs had been fulfilled, limited though his bush craft may be even Artemis was able to notice the drop in the temperature and subtle lengthening of the shadows. Night would soon be upon them and even at this time of year it would be preferable to have some shelter before the sun disappeared entirely. Hopefully Holly would return from ensuring that the shuttle was properly hidden soon and between them they could try to find somewhere to sleep.

As his thoughts turned back to Holly, Artemis couldn't help but feel a tinge of concern for her. Holly had been unusually subdued since their arrival at the disused North American shuttle port earlier that afternoon (to Artemis' mind 'crashed' would be a more accurate description than 'arrived' but he had decided against sharing that opinion with Holly). Admittedly most psychologists would probably agree that this could be considered to be a perfectly normal response to a near death experience and effective social exile but Holly had been through far worse before and not reacted in this way. Artemis also tended to disagree with most psychologists on most things.

As if on cue; his erstwhile rescuer emerged from the clump of trees behind him. The inherent tension in her body language as she approached him confirmed Artemis' suspicions that something was wrong, curious and more than a little concerned he determined to discover the cause of her disquiet.

"D'Arvit what I wouldn't give for a set of Double Dex wings and a shimmer suit right now…." Holly complained loudly as she attempted to negotiate the somewhat slippery beach in her civilian shoes; which were flat and had almost certainly not been designed with trekking in mind. Artemis knew Holly too well to buy the act however, she was faking irritation at the lack of equipment to cover her real emotions. Why was this place affecting her so much?

"Personally I would be happy with a pot of Earl Grey but I suppose that under the circumstances that isn't particularly likely either" Artemis attempted a half-hearted smile in the hope that Holly might respond in kind; when this failed he tried sarcasm instead "you still haven't explained why we came here of all places Holly. I hate to point it out, but this national park is a massive tourist attraction and come tomorrow morning we certainly won't be the only ones here. Unless your plan for avoiding detection by the LEP includes being detained for trespassing…?"

Holly's glare was enough to make Artemis instantly regret the sarcastic remark. Before he could apologise she had disappeared into the dense foliage at the centre of the small island. Her reaction caught Artemis completely off-guard, he had certainly hoped to coax a reaction of some sort out of her but it certainly wasn't _this. _In all the years that he had known her Artemis had no recollection of Holly running from anything, least of all a confrontation with him! With daylight rapidly running out as the sun edged ever closer towards the horizon, casting an ominously beautiful amber glow across the lake as it did so, there was only really one course of action available.

"Holly!" Artemis called out as he struggled through the trees in pursuit, his loafers crushing the pine needles which seemed to blanket the forest floor as he pushed deeper into the now imposingly dark forest, quickly losing sight of the shore. He didn't really hold out much hope of catching Holly; Artemis was well aware that even if she didn't have enough magic left to shield the tiny elf was more than capable of outrunning him and could probably hide in a bush more effectively than he could in a sheet of cam foil.

Much to Artemis' irritation he was again proven correct when after several minutes of searching he had been unable to locate any sign of Holly and worse still, now had an excruciatingly painful stitch. _Butler I swear that if I am ever able to return to Fowl Manor then I will dedicate at least one hour a week to physical exercise! _

Distracted as he was by the pain in his abdomen, Artemis almost missed the slight rustling at the edge of the clearing he had stopped to rest in.

"Holly?" he called out again, hoping that the movement he had noticed had been caused by Holly and not some large carnivorous animal or team of LEP commandos. His concerns were confirmed however when he heard a low growl emanate from the far side of the clearing, Holly may be angry with him but he had never heard her _growl_ before. Artemis began to edge tentatively backwards towards the cover of the trees but stopped dead when he saw the creature that emerged less than twenty metres in front of him.

The grizzly bear that now stood casually sniffing the air in front of him was truly an impressive specimen, even on all fours it stood easily four and a half feet tall and Artemis had no doubt that it was more than capable of killing him with about as much effort as it would take him to hack an unencrypted hard drive.

_Ok, grizzlies rarely predate on humans so as long as I stay calm I should be fine….In theory._

Of course staying calm is considerably easier said than done when an adult grizzly bear decides to charge at you and that was precisely the situation that Artemis now found himself in. _If this bear doesn't kill me then Butler will probably never let me leave the Manor again _he thought sardonically whilst trying to remain still and look as threatening as possible.

To his credit Artemis managed not to run in terror as the 300kg predator rapidly closed the distance between them and when he looked back on the situation afterwards the young genius would conclude that he took the best course of available and that even had he known that this particular grizzly had developed a taste for humans he could never have hoped to outrun it; he would however concede that he did do a pretty poor job of appearing threatening. Fortunately for Artemis, in the second before the fatal swipe would have connected with his head a tiny hand grabbed his belt from behind and pulled him backwards, sending him sprawling into the bushes – undignified but alive.

_I really should stop relying on Holly to rescue me from imminent death _Artemis thought as he watched the scene play out in front of him from his position sprawled amongst the ferns. Having pulled him to safety Holly had surged up from where she had been concealed within the bushes and dived towards the massive grizzly.

The grizzly was surprised to say the least, it wasn't particularly used to prey fighting back and it had certainly never before been struck on the nose by a full charge from a LEP issue buzz baton. As he pushed himself to his feet and began the impossible task of readjusting his ruined suit Artemis couldn't help but be amazed by the sight before him, the grizzly bear was barely conscious on the floor in front of him and looking extremely sorry for itself while Holly was crouching by its head and lecturing the bear on the many good reasons for staying as far away from people as possible.

The bear certainly did seem to look remorseful as Holly informed it in no uncertain terms that if it tried to attack Mud Men again then it would probably be hunted down and shot, but Artemis found it strange that she was lecturing the bear in English when he knew that thanks to the gift of tongues Holly could speak any language fluently, including grizzly bear. Maybe she was so magically depleted that even her gift of tongues had failed he reasoned, there was of course another possible explanation but it seemed extraordinarily unlikely. Still Artemis thought with a slight smile despite the gravity of the near death experience (it was hardly his first after all), there was only one way to find out for certain although he would have to wait to test that particular hypothesis.

As Holly finished with the semi-conscious bear and turned back to face him Artemis found himself caught off-guard and not for the first time by the otherworldly beauty of his friend. The last rays of amber sunlight reflected enchantingly from her shoulder length auburn hair as she glanced up at him, transfixing him with her gaze. He had thought of her as 'black widow beautiful' once and there was certainly still a sharp edge to both her looks and character but in the years since he had first thought of her in that way he had come to know her far better, to see the softness contained within the hard shell that she presented to the rest of the world. He also knew that he was one of very few beings that Holly had allowed inside that tough exterior. _And how did you repay her trust? By lying to her and manipulating her. Holly deserves better, it's for the best that she doesn't know how I feel, it would only poison our friendship further. After all, she is hardly likely to reciprocate! _

"Artemis…When you're through staring into space maybe we can get out of here?"

_Still annoyed then, at least she's talking to me now I suppose. _Artemis sighed (although he made sure he did so too quietly for Holly to notice, he wasn't sure he could survive her running off again…) and did his best to follow Holly as she moved back through the trees towards the shore.

XXXX

In the time that it took them to walk to the small island that Artemis had observed earlier from the shore (which wasn't technically an island as at this time of year it was still connected to the mainland by a thin land-bridge) Holly had calmed considerably, she still felt more emotional than normal but she couldn't really blame Artemis for that, just being in this place was causing her to relive a lot of bittersweet memories.

She wanted to blame him for somehow stumbling into the only actively aggressive grizzly in the national park but even that wasn't really working, in fact she was probably more annoyed at herself for running off like a teenager, throwing a tantrum and leaving him on his own in the first place given his uncanny ability to find danger in almost any possible situation.

Of course Artemis had been less than impressed when he discovered the basic nature of their camp which currently consisted of a tent barely large enough for two small fairies (_that _was going to be interesting…) and a circular ring of devices the size of golf balls which marked the boundary of the site, his displeasure at their accommodation went some way to making her feel better.

_Artemis was probably expecting room service and an en suite _Holly thought with more than a little amusement, personally she couldn't imagine anywhere that she would prefer to sleep than under the stars. No amount of time on the surface could lessen the unadulterated joy that breathing fresh air brought her (even if it was full of pollutants thanks to the Mud Men).

Holly was distracted from staring at the stars by an incessant scraping sound to her right. She watched with poorly concealed amusement as the source of the sound became clear, Artemis had collected some firewood and was rubbing two sticks together in a predictably futile attempt to create a fire. Finally deciding that the warmth and comfort of a fire outweighed the sheer hilarity of watching Artemis attempt to create one Holly shoved him out of the way and took over.

"It's like watching Early Man try to discover fire all over again" Holly said playfully as she took the sticks from his hands and began expertly manipulating them with far greater speed and dexterity than Artemis had achieved; in seconds she had produced a spark and began blowing on it to encourage it.

"That's hardly a fair comparison Holly, Homo erectus was adapted to handle physical tasks, as you may have noticed. I am not." As if to emphasise this point Artemis sat down next to Holly and began modifying the fairy communicator that Holly had taken from Chix Verbil during their escape.

"You're sure that Foaly can't track us through that thing?" Holly eyed Artemis sceptically over the newly kindled fire, squinting slightly as the wood smoke stung her sensitive eyes.

Artemis didn't look up from the communicator as he replied. "Please Holly…I deactivated the transponder before we left Haven and am currently routing the signal through no less than twenty different proxy servers, given time I concede that it is _possible _that Foaly could isolate the signal but I doubt he will even try, the LEP seem to have their hands full without worrying about us at the moment."

"They have their hands full? What do you mean?" Holly could feel her anxiety increasing, Artemis of course looked as calm as he always did but she could tell that he was deep in thought. He had his planning face on and that could only mean trouble – although on measure she was hard pressed to think of any interaction with Artemis that had in fact _ever _not involved trouble in one way or another.

"You're talking to me again then? I assume this means that I am forgiven?" Artemis glanced up temporarily from the communicator, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips. As she met his gaze Holly felt her breath catch in her throat. Accentuated by the gentle orange glow of the fire, the chiselled contours of his face contrasted starkly with the inky darkness of the night making him appear older and, she had to admit, _striking_.

The man sat opposite and waiting for her to reply still looked like the boy that she had hated, feared, respected and eventually come to count as her closest friend but he had undeniably changed during the last year. He certainly didn't _look _like a boy anymore and that was causing Holly to feel more than a little uncomfortable in ways that she really didn't want to think about right now.

Realising that she still hadn't replied she dropped her gaze to stare instead at the fire, blushing despite her best efforts not to do so and sincerely hoping that he hadn't noticed. They still hadn't addressed the 'moment' that had occurred in the interrogation room before Mulch interrupted them and Holly had no intention of opening that particular Pandora's Box before she had to.

"Don't take it for granted Mud Boy" she tried to sound annoyed but her heart wasn't really in it, he already knew that she wasn't really angry with him.

"I will never take your friendship for granted again, it is far too valuable to me Holly." When he spoke Artemis' voice was quiet, sincere even. Whatever Holly had been expecting him to say, it wasn't that. Holly looked up as Artemis finished speaking but he had already returned his attention to the communicator, his dark hair obscured his face and made it impossible to read his expression.

Before Holly could form any sort of coherent reply Artemis had continued talking. "Regarding the LEP, it would appear that my supposed involvement in the recent terrorist attack has inflamed 'anti-Mud' tensions within certain elements of the People resulting in a degree of social unrest – riots are hardly the biggest problem currently facing the LEP however."

Holly had to fight to suppress her irritation as Artemis paused to type something else into the communicator, she knew he would reveal everything eventually but he could be _so _frustrating when he wanted to be.

"There are reports from London of a large animal stalking and killing people at night, although they are as yet unsubstantiated it would appear that Foaly shares my view that the creature responsible is not the simple big-cat that the human authorities suspect but rather that it is in some way related to The People."

Holly groaned, placing her head in her hands for what felt like the hundredth time that day, somehow the two of them had ended up neck deep in another 'save the world against all the odds' drama and she wasn't sure how many more of those she could handle. Their luck had to run out eventually, didn't it?

"How do you know that Foaly shares your opinion?" Holly asked, certain that she wasn't going to like the answer.

The smug grin on Artemis' face was all the confirmation that she needed, this was definitely going to end with trouble. "I know because I used this little communicator to hack Foaly's system, apparently he has been following the events in London very closely indeed. He has also been keeping tabs, without any authorisation I should add, on a recent scientific expedition to the Antarctic."

Artemis paused again as he finally deactivated the communicator and placed it down on the ground beside him, giving Holly a chance to digest what he had said so far before continuing. Anti-human riots in Haven were hardly a surprise, that particularly lobby had been growing in influence massively recently and given the aggressive nature of their views it wasn't hard to imagine their supporters rioting in response to a perceived attack by a human. More concerning was the news of a 'creature' on the loose on the surface, it certainly didn't sound like a troll, far too subtle, which left very few possibilities and none of them attractive…Hoping to find some flaw in his reasoning which would lessen the seriousness of the news Holly latched on to what she saw as the weak point in the theory.

"I don't see what the Antarctic has to do with any of this Artemis?"

"I'm glad you asked because that is the truly intriguing part." Artemis had moved to sit beside her now and Holly was acutely aware of their proximity as he held the communicators' display screen up for her to see. "This is the cargo manifesto of a research vessel recently returned from an Antarctic expedition. The publicly stated objective for this expedition was to collect ice core samples to improve current models of previous global warming. Do you see anything odd?"

Holly stared intently at the list of equipment and cargo carried by the ship before hesitantly replying "They seem to have a lot of pretty advanced medical tech on this list, I mean what would they need a bypass machine for?"

"Precisely" Artemis agreed "that isn't the only discrepancy however, the drill that they acquired is not in fact even capable of drilling ice samples and perhaps the best clue to their purpose – the ship was very recently refitted to incorporate an extremely sophisticated cage and by extremely sophisticated I mean that you would probably invest in a similar design if you wanted to keep a T-Rex for a pet. If that isn't suspicious enough then the ship docked in the port of Greenwich on the same day that the first attack was reported."

"Ok, if I'm following this correctly then you're saying that the people that chartered this boat, somehow extracted some kind of Abominable Snowman from the Antarctic and released it in London….Even if that was plausible Arty I don't see a motive or any reason for this to involve the LEP?"

"What if this creature is somehow related to the People? Something that if found by humanity would expose your existence? Perhaps the motive is simply to kill humans but I suspect that there is more to it than that, too much effort has been invested in recovering this animal for it to be that simple." Holly shivered slightly at the dark tone of Artemis' statement and the very worrying possibility that he could be right.

"Fine, let's assume that you and Foaly aren't both just being ridiculously suspicious of everything and jumping at shadows…What are we going to do about this? Right now we need to focus on clearing your name before the LEP catches up to us and I'm not even sure where to start with that, let alone anything else."

"Which is precisely why we need to go to London, tomorrow. There are no true coincidences Holly. I'm not sure how just yet but somehow the attack in Haven, implicating me, the riots and this creature attacking people in London is all related."

_So much for hiding in the wilderness and keeping a low profile_ Holly thought despairingly.

"London…brilliant. You realise that this plan means the two of us somehow passing through two international airports without alerting the LEP and then tracking down some elusive terrorist mastermind in one of the busiest cities in the world with nothing but a modified communicator, buzz baton and a Neutrino 2000 that Mulch claims fell off the back of a shuttle, right?" If Holly sounded less than enthusiastic about the plan then that's because she was, thank Frond Mulch had managed to find an old Neutrino for her when he had swiped the starter chip for the recently impounded illegal shuttle in which they had made their escape.

"I concede that it isn't the best plan that I've ever created but we have faced considerably worse odds and prevailed in the past Holly." Artemis was facing her again and close enough that she could feel his shoulder against her own, Holly made the tactical decision to retreat to the tent before she said or did something which might jeopardise the mission, their friendship and her career – although she conceded that she probably couldn't really jeopardise her career much further right now if she tried.

"Call me a pessimist but I'm still not convinced Arty…I'm going to get some sleep anyway, it sounds like tomorrow is going to be a long day." Holly pushed herself to her feet and was momentarily irritated that even stood upright she was no longer taller than Artemis sat down, she had almost reached the tent flap when she heard Artemis call from behind her.

"What, no bivouac for the fair princess?"

Holly stopped dead in her tracks, was Artemis Fowl making a _joke _at his _own _expense?! For a terrible moment she was afraid that his Atlantis Complex might have returned but as she looked back she saw to her relief that he was smiling at her as he prodded the dying embers of their fire back to life.

"You know I think I'd rather kiss a stinkworm than hear you call me a fair princess ever again Arty."

"Don't worry, vexatious though he may be Orion is unlikely to make an appearance any time soon, hopefully ever. I was hoping to lighten the mood. I can tell that something about this place is bothering you Holly, you don't have to talk about it but it might help?" Holly wanted to refuse, to tell him that it was none of his business and shut herself away in the tent but the sincerity in his voice made her reconsider. _So much for the tactical retreat…_

"It's silly really" she sighed as she sat back beside him in front of the fire, "my mum used to use this place as a field base for conservation research, she used to bring me here, illegally of course, every summer when I was young. She installed the proximity shield here when tourists started becoming a problem, the beacons around this camp actually project an image of a pond to anyone outside the perimeter. As far as the LEP is concerned this place no longer exists so it seemed an obvious choice for a hideout. This is the first time that I've been back here since she died. It's just…it's still tough, you know?" As she had been speaking Artemis seemed to have drifted closer to her until they were all but touching and then before she realised what he was doing his arm was round her shoulder.

The embrace was tentative and uncertain but gentle, Holly tensed for a second before deciding _what the hell? _and relaxing into the embrace, her head resting comfortingly against his shoulder. Artemis was quiet for a while, thinking about her explanation and when he spoke his voice was far more tender than the arrogant, sarcastic tone that she was used to hearing from him.

"I'm sorry Holly, you have every right to hate humanity after what happened to your mother and yet here you stand having saved our world more than once." It wasn't really a question and yet she felt that it deserved an answer.

"I _did _hate humanity passionately for a long time afterwards but that isn't what she would have wanted from me and eventually I realised that it wasn't fair either, for all the evil of humanity there is just as much good. Now look at me, on the run from the LEP with the most infamous Mud Boy in the Lower Elements!" She shoved against him playfully at the last remark to show that she was only teasing but Artemis seemed to be deep in thought and didn't react to the gesture.

"Did your mother ever tell you the mythology surrounding this island" he asked her suddenly.

"I don't think so, there was something about it being haunted but that was about it, why?"

"It isn't the happiest of stories I'm afraid but it does have a certain poignancy to it. The Native people of this area of the Rockies call this place Manitou which translates as Spirit Island. Legend has it that a young man and young woman from warring tribes fell in love and met here in secret. Eventually of course the girl's family found about their relationship, and her tribe forbade her from ever seeing the boy again. Despite this the boy never gave up hope that one day they would be together again. If the legend is true then he continued to visit the island every day until he died and his spirit lingers on here to this day, waiting to be reunited with his lost lover."

As Artemis recited the story Holly couldn't help but think that any relationship between the two of them would be just as tragic. If Trouble was any indicator then the reaction of the People to any union would be to reject it utterly, and that was without even considering the fact that in a few short decades he would grow old and die while she would linger on for centuries like the spirit of the boy, doomed to a lonely existence of exile and empty hope.

"Why did they do it do you think? They must have known that their relationship would end badly." Holly's voice was constrained as she lifted her head slightly from Artemis' shoulder to look up at his face, they both knew that the question was about far more than the motives of two long-dead lovers.

"Perhaps they thought it was worth the consequences? Or perhaps they simply acted with their heart rather than their heads, is it hard to imagine that two people might fall so deeply for each other that they cease to _care_ about the consequences?"

The question hung in the air between them, heavy with uncertainty and hope.

"No Artemis, I don't find that hard to imagine at all." Holly felt her breath catch as Artemis turned to capture her gaze with his piercing, mismatched eyes, the mirror of her own. _Frond help me _she thought as she felt her self-control melt.

Artemis was plainly nervous as he spoke again "Holly I have to know, when you said that my elf kissing days are over, is there any chance that may change because I don't think I can bare-"

Holly didn't let him finish but placed her hand on his cheek and answered his question with her lips. She had no idea what the future might hold or what the consequences might be but she did know that she had fallen utterly and irrevocably for the Mud Boy long before this night. Tomorrow would come and she would face it when it did but right now in the warm glow of the fire and beneath the stars she knew that she had never felt as comfortable as she did in his arms. Pandora's box had been opened and the future would be far from simple but as long as they took the journey together, she could handle that.

XXXX

Commander Trouble Kelp paused from pacing the length of his office to take a deep swig of sim coffee, wishing for the thousandth time that day that it was something stronger. Somehow in the space of twenty four hours Haven had experienced the worst single loss of life since the Koboi crisis (as the events of last summer were now being referred to), he had at least three homicidal dwarves on the loose and his best officer had disobeyed a direct order and broken the chief suspect for the attack out of LEP custody before absconding to the surface with him. You couldn't _write_ stuff like that.

To make matters even worse the news that the LEP were holding a human in relation to the attack had been leaked (someone would be losing their job over that…) and the response had been predictable if extreme – some mysterious troublemaker that no one seemed to be able to identify had whipped the crowds up into a frenzy of anti-human fervour.

The 'Anti-Mud' lobby as they styled themselves had been a significant force within the Lower Elements for as long as anyone could remember but the LEPs cooperation with Artemis Fowl, the return of the demons (many of whom still believed that the sole purpose of their existence was to exterminate humans) and the assistance of a certain LEP captain in closing the Berserker Gate and therefore preventing the destruction of the human race had brought tensions to an unprecedented high.

The news that the same human that the LEP had so famously and controversially cooperated with was believed to be responsible for the attack in Haven's Central Park had been the spark that was needed to ignite the growing anger and turn peaceful discontent into full-blown rioting on the streets of Haven.

Just as he had decided that the situation could in fact get no worse unless Opal Koboi was somehow resurrected to personally lead the rioters, the computer on his desk began beeping incessantly. _By Frond, please let this be good news _Trouble thought as he reached over and activated the screen. The display was instantly filled by an image of Foaly's face. Groaning inwardly Trouble considered simply deactivating the computer and delaying the inevitably bad news that Foaly was clearly dying to share with him but gave up the notion when he realised that the centaur was unlikely to give up that easily.

"Alright Foaly" Trouble sighed resignedly "what is it now? More good news no doubt?" The look on the centaur's face left Trouble in little doubt that good news was unlikely to be forthcoming.

"Ermm, not exactly Troub-err, Commander…Would you prefer me to start with the bad news or just cut straight to the potentially world-endingly awful news?"

"There's a point to this conversation Foaly, you need to get to it, _quickly._" _D'Arvittting Centaur! _Trouble swore internally as his grip intensified around the mug of sim coffee, he would have preferred it to be Artemis Fowl's neck but that could wait.

"Well the bad news is that we no longer have a suspect in custody for the Central Park massacre, the dwarf we were holding is dead, we-" Trouble interrupted Foaly before he could explain further, splattering the screen with sim coffee in the process.

"Dead? Our suspect is _dead?! _What do you mean the D'Arvitting suspect is dead?!"

"Well, his pulse has disappeared, all detectable brain function has ceased, spontaneous circulation is no longer occurring and he is for all intents and purposes deceased, dead, pushing up daisies..."

"So help me Frond Foaly; I am one more wisecrack away from reallocating your entire budget to Traffic! I know what dead means damn it, what I want to know is precisely how he bloody well died whilst in _our_ custody?!" Trouble allowed himself a fraction of a second of amusement at the nervous whinny that accompanied the budget threat before focusing on the monitor again as Foaly replied.

"But Commander I need that budget, you should see the new omni-tools that I'm developing…" Foaly stopped mid-sentence as he noticed the Commander's expression "Right, point, getting to it….Our suspect was perfectly healthy when we woke him up and started interrogating him, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that the retimager showed that he had seen Artemis before and he admitted as much when Major Darkleaf interrogated him. The trouble, no pun intended Commander, was that his story didn't quite add up and I thought something was off with the retimager result, though I still can't work out what exactly. Anyway when we asked him about that he literally just died."

"He _just died_?" Trouble repeated the words slowly, emphasising each syllable. He wasn't even entirely sure that there was an adjective sufficiently strong to describe his current emotional state, furious certainly didn't cut it.

"Pretty much" Foaly confirmed matter-of-factly "we found evidence that a small incendiary device had been detonated at the base of his skull, this device must have been surgically implanted and presumably remote-detonated."

"So Fowl is guilty of another murder then?" _More evidence against the Mud Whelp_, _maybe there is hope for today yet_.

"I don't think so Commander, a device like this is far beyond current human capabilities and it wouldn't be like Artemi-"

"Forgive me for not taking your word for it Foaly but we've underestimated the Mud Whelp before and I'm not about to make the same mistake again. He's as guilty as sin, that's all there is to it. Now, what was the other bad news? Some nonsense about the end of the world wasn't it?" _He must have been joking _thought Trouble, _nothing could make today any worse. _A dead suspect he could handle, the dwarf might not be able to testify now but he had already incriminated Fowl quite nicely.

"You're the boss Troub-Commander but you should know that I reviewed the blood sample we took from Artemis while he was unconscious and well…I think you should take a look. It pains me to say it but I'm not even sure what these results mean right now, they don't make any sense for a human but…"

"I'll worry about Mud Boy's anaemia when half of Haven isn't at risk of being burned down by angry rioters Foaly, now if there's nothing else…?"

"There's definitely more I'm afraid and you're not going to like the next bit." Trouble felt his brow furrow and his ears prick up, he wasn't going to like _the next bit?_ As if he had _liked_ anything that he had heard in the last twenty four hours?! Foaly took the lack of verbal response as a cue to continue.

"I have several reports of a wild animal killing humans in central London, attacks have been reported in Hyde Park, St James's and Green Park so far, no bodies have been recovered yet and the human police believe that there is some sort of escaped wild cat on the loose although there has only been one grainy photo captured so far..."

"Ok, explain to me why this is our problem Foaly? Because in case you hadn't noticed we have more than enough of our own problems right now without playing save the Mud Morons."

"…It's our problem because I ran that photo through a program designed to identify creatures from anatomical details and it isn't a big cat, the Mud Men don't have a clue what they're dealing with but it is _definitely _our problem. I'm sending the file over to you now."

Trouble felt the feeling drain from his legs as he stared at the screen before him. Displayed upon the screen was a poor quality image of what could at first observation reasonably be assumed to be a large cat but Trouble didn't need the analysis report to identify the creature on the screen, a creature which had haunted fairy nightmares for millennia.

Trouble slumped involuntarily in his chair as the full implications of what he was seeing hit him, Foaly was right, this was certainly their problem and it was potentially 'world-endingly bad'.

* * *

**A/N: First of all, thanks for reading this far and I hope you are all still enjoying the story? Of course I won't **_**know **_**whether you are or not unless you review, so please review! :P The next chapter may be some time coming (sorry, blame my university!) but it will contain the first detailed POV from the main antagonist...**

**Did you all pick up on the hints about the Antarctic?**

**What is up with Artemis' blood? **

**What sort of creature could The People be so afraid of?**

**Will Holly and Artemis make it work? **

**Will Trouble burst an aneurysm?**

**Am I going to pass my end of year exams?!**

**Let me know your theories ;) **

**Response to reviews: **

**Ozymandiasmusic: Thanks! Sorry it's taken so long to update, I'm afraid that the next chapter may take at least as long too :\**

**Shaddia: Is it duplicated? It's fine for me :-s Yes, yes I would ;) I was actually quite worried about attempting Mulch because he's such a cool and unique character (and I think a lot more complicated than he initially appears) so I'm really glad you liked him!**

**Ilovebks: Thanks :) I know it is a bit fluffy but in my defence, I did put romance as a genre and there is a warning in the description ;) If it makes you feel any better then know that whilst there will be more fluff I intend to make it as realistically impractical for them as possible, this isn't going to be a fairytale romance. **

**fowlsprincess6138: Thank you! Characterisation was my big concern so it's really nice to hear that you thought it was pretty good, I took your advice about the paragraphs and I hope this chapter is better, let me know? **

**Guest1: Thanks :) You're right of course and I did refer to him as a pixie the first time but called him by a sprite by accident the second time I mentioned him, I have now changed both to pixie. **

**Ru-Doragon: Woooo :D thanks! I'm definitely feeling the pressure now ;) Hope you like this chapter too. I'm sorry that they didn't go back to the place that they met but I wanted to throw in an original location (which I think is really magical in it's own right and has a personal connection for me) and I hope you liked it :\ rest assured that there is plenty of story still to come and there is every chance that a certain bend in a river near Dublin will feature at some point ;) **

**Guest2: Thanks! Sorry that you've had to 'eagerly anticipate' for so long and I hope it was worth the wait :) **


	5. The Morning After

A/N: _So the next chapter is finally up, hope you all enjoy it and I'm incredibly sorry that it has taken so long! Massive thanks to all those that have left such amazing reviews (and to everyone that has favourited or followed this fic). I honestly wasn't sure whether this would be well received or not so your comments really are appreciated and they inspire me to keep writing so please keep them coming! If this goes past 50 reviews then I'm not sure what I'll do yet, but I will definitely be extremely happy! Also as I have finally finished my exams the rate of updates should improve (I say *should* because I will still be working blocks of night shifts over the summer and strange as it may seem I do actually occasionally also have a life…I know, crazy!). _

_Just a heads up, there will be a scene involving violence and death in this chapter, it isn't that graphic (pretty sure T is still fine) but if you really don't want to read that then you have been warned! It will be obvious when it's about to happen, in case you want to skip that section : ) _

**The Morning After**

**Central Haven, Lower Elements **

"All units fall back and form up on my position. I repeat, fall back, now!" Major Darkleaf shouted the order into his radio as he ducked to avoid the Molotov cocktail hurtling towards his head. The scene in Central Haven would not have looked out of place in Dante's Inferno; hundreds of rioters had crammed in to the square in which Darkleaf now found himself. The smell of burning rubber was overpowering and the smoke from the fires was so thick that visibility within the square was reduced to barely ten metres.

Every vehicle that he could see was ablaze as were several of the buildings and the rioters were showing no sign of running out of projectiles any time soon. Firing as he went the major backpedalled in the face of the angry crowd, desperately attempting to rally the rest of his squad in the process. _I definitely don't get paid enough for this _he thought grimly as his squad began to form up around him, presenting a wall of riot shields to the angry mob.

Retrieval One had been en route to the shuttle station when the riots had started and they had quickly been caught up in the chaos which followed. Darkleaf already had one fairy out of action with concussion after a particularly bold demon had decided to use his helmeted head as a stress ball and if help didn't arrive soon then he certainly wouldn't be the last casualty.

"Fairy down! Kelp is down, Sir!" someone shouted from his left. Darkleaf moved instinctively towards the prone form of Corporal Grubb Kelp; grabbing him under the arms he heaved him back behind the cordon of riot shields as the rest of the squad closed ranks around them.

"D'Arvit!" the major swore loudly as he assessed Grubbs' condition, he was alive but very definitely stunned. "Where the hell have they got neutrinos from?!" The situation was desperate and Darkleaf knew it. Retrieval One boasted that they never retreated, no matter the odds (although exceptions had been made during the Goblin Uprising and the first siege of Fowl Manor) but staying in their current location would be suicide, particularly if the rioters had access to advanced weaponry.

"Begging your pardon Sir but I don't think they have any neutrinos, or at least, they didn't need them to take the Corporal out…" The private avoided Darkleaf's gaze as he continued "The Corporal accidentally shot himself in the foot, Sir"

The major was prevented from replying by a fireball which arced over the protective wall of riot shields before striking him squarely in the centre of his chest. The force of the impact was sufficient to send him sprawling to the ground but his body armour absorbed most of the blast.

"I'm fine, I'm FINE!" he waved the concerned private away as he attempted to smother the flames which still licked at Darkleaf's armour. _We can't take much more of this _he thought as another fireball landed only inches away from where he sat, in front of him the thin defensive line was buckling under the pressure of the rioting crowd.

"Down with Mud, blood means blood!" the screams of the crowd resonated chillingly within the square. _Fools, they really want to start a war! _Darkleaf grimaced as he listened to the chants, he just knew that this wasn't going to end well.

"Darkleaf to control, Darkleaf to control. Commander if you can hear me then I need an ETA on reinforcements. We're being overrun here, over!" Darkleaf barked the request into his helmet radio, sincerely hoping that _someone _would hear him.

"All received Major" Darkleaf felt relief flood through him at the sound of the Commander's voice over the radio "ETA on reinforcements is approximately two minutes. Hold tight boys, the cavalry is on its way." Upon hearing the reassuring tone of Trouble's voice Darkleaf found himself releasing a breath that he hadn't realised he had been holding, help was finally on the way. All they had to do now was hold the line until it arrived.

XXXX

**Jasper National Park, Canadian Rockies**

Holly groaned as the sunlight passed through the thin membrane of the tent and disturbed her sleep. _Damn Foaly, he can design flying insect cameras but he can't invent a tent that lets you sleep in…._

_Go away sun! _Holly thought irritably as she attempted to bury her face in the pillow that she had been resting on. She had been having such a great dream too, cuddling with Artemis by the fire, kissing him tenderly as he professed his feelings for her and then with growing passion before he carried her into the tent and….Holly felt herself start to blush as she recalled the more intimate details of that particular dream!

As she tried in vain to return to the comfort of sleep Holly began to notice that something was not quite right about her sleeping arrangements. It almost felt as if her pillow was moving rhythmically up and down as it would if she was sleeping on a ship, but that wasn't possible, unless…_D'Arvit! _

Holly was suddenly completely awake and trying hard not to panic at the site that greeted her eyes. Her head was firmly _snuggled _into what could only be Artemis Fowl's chest and the rest of her anatomy seemed to be similarly intertwined. She blinked twice rapidly and bit her lip until it hurt; _definitely not dreaming, Frond help me I am _so _screwed…!_

"Good morning, Holly?" _There goes the go back to sleep and pretend that none of this is happening plan _Holly thought sarcastically. At least Artemis sounded as uncertain as she felt, it made her feel marginally better to know that she wasn't the only one freaking out. Glancing guiltily upwards to meet his gaze she asked the inevitable question.

"Artemis, did we ermm…You know?" _Really, the best I can do is 'did we ermm?'! I sound like a D'Arvitting teenager for Frond's sake. Ground feel free to swallow me, any time now! _Artemis' face seemed to have skipped crimson and gone straight to infra-red he was blushing so fiercely, his voice was however surprisingly measured as he replied.

"I assume that you are referring to coitus, Holly?"

"_Sex_, Artemis. Did _we_…have _sex_? Also would it kill you to talk like a normal human being for once, I don't think anyone has called it _coitus_ since your people got rid of the law making it illegal to do it outside of marriage…"

"No, Holly, we did not have _sex_. We kissed and then talked for a bit and you fell asleep on my shoulder, so I brought you in here, nothing else happened. I am however somewhat hurt that you can possibly be in any doubt as to whether you would remember us doing…that."

Holly turned, if possible, an even deeper shade of red and buried her face in her hands. As things stood she wasn't even sure that their anatomy would be _compatible; _Artemis was right though, she seriously doubted that it would be an experience that she would be forgetting easily…

"Holly if this isn't what you want then I understand, I-"

"Stop, Arty." Holly raised herself into a seating position so that she could look at Artemis as she spoke to him. "This is going to take a bit of getting used to and yes, I'm nervous, but this is _definitely _what I want." Smiling with a confidence that she didn't really feel Holly punched the teenage genius playfully on the arm before leaning forward and planting a single chaste kiss on his lips. "Just in case you needed confirmation" she whispered coyly, "now I'm going to make some breakfast, come out and find me when you're ready."

XXXX

Holly leant towards him and Artemis felt his pulse quicken and his breath catch involuntarily, once again he noticed the now familiar scent of grass and citrus that he had come to associate with her. Her lips brushed his own for the second time in under twelve hours and though this kiss was chaste and fleeting the effect on his ability to concentrate on anything other than _her _was no less profound.

The logical part of Artemis' brain registered that during the last 24 hours the frequency of their kissing had increased exponentially, a trend which he very much hoped would continue. Combined with the memory of the dream that he had experienced last night, this fresh assault on his self-control was hard to endure. _Mafia Kingpins and criminal genii have failed to control me but in the face of hormones I am helpless _he thought wryly as Holly pulled away from him slightly.

"Just in case you needed confirmation" she whispered coyly "now I'm going to make some breakfast, come out and find me when you're ready." _Right, breakfast, think about breakfast. Actually think about anything that doesn't involve Holly or the dream last night. Mulch, think about Mulch…_That did the trick. Artemis breathed a sigh of relief as the blood flowed back to his brain and Holly left the tent; did her hips always sway that much when she walked?!

Breakfast was a more sedate affair. Holly and Artemis exchanged frequently furtive and glances and her hand definitely lingered on his own when he passed her the cutlery but conversation was kept to a minimum. For the moment they both felt happy to simply enjoy the other's company, they both knew that the current peace could not last. The awkwardness that had come from waking up together had gone but the change in their relationship was definitely going to take some time before they were both accustomed to it. For once in his life Artemis was forced to admit that he didn't know exactly what was going to happen, the sensation was as overwhelming as it was liberating.

However, Artemis was not naïve enough to believe that he could simply 'live in the moment' and expect everything to sort itself out, he cared about Holly too much to leave their relationship to chance. As such, serious questions needed to be addressed – Artemis' human lifespan, the reaction of The People to their relationship, the practical issues of living arrangements, not to mention the question of conception between an interspecies couple…

"Holly…" Artemis began tentatively, placing his half-finished bowl of cereal down beside him and turning instead to the female elf sat next to him.

Holly was staring absent-mindedly into the distance and waited a moment before replying. "No, Arty."

"You can't possibly know what I'm going to say!" Artemis said indignantly.

"Oh, really?" Holly raised one eyebrow sceptically before turning back to gaze at the sky over Lake Maligne. "You're going to say that we need to talk, then you're going to start describing the many arguments against us being together."

Artemis was lost for words, he knew that Holly could not read his mind and yet her perception was uncanny. When had he become so easy to read? When Artemis did not reply Holly sighed, clearly taking his silence as an acknowledgement that her guess had been accurate.

"Can you see the eagle up there?" She asked, without taking her eyes off the distant sky, one delicate finger directing his gaze to the point where a golden eagle soared majestically above the lake. "That eagle doesn't care what we think of it, or what the next day will bring. I want that freedom."

Almost without thinking Artemis found his hand on Holly's. He squeezed once comfortingly as his thumb began tenderly tracing the contours of her tiny hand, which fit so easily within his own. "That would be pleasant" Artemis conceded, "but we have to be realistic Holly, I don't want to cause you suffering if it can be avoided. To address the most immediate issue, how do you expect The People to react?"

"I expect they'll declare a national holiday in our honour and organise street parties to celebrate…" Holly muttered sarcastically. When Artemis didn't reply she continued, "honestly, right now I don't care what the D'Arvitting People think! Maybe they don't even need to know? Either way, lets cross that bridge when we come to it, we need to get to London before we start worrying about being in Haven."

"You're right, of course, although travelling to London poses its own risks."

"If Foaly is concerned about this creature too then there are bound to be LEP agents there." Holly replied with a hint of anxiety in her voice.

"True, but it's a risk that we need to take. I intend to clear your name, and we certainly can't do that from here." _Not the whole truth but not a lie either, _he reasoned.

"Right, and that's it? There's nothing else that you aren't telling me?" This was the critical moment, he could lie but he had already lied to Holly enough to last two lifetimes.

"No, it isn't, but I can't tell you everything else yet, I still have a lot of research to do before I'm ready to explain everything. Can you trust me, Holly?" To Artemis' relief, Holly didn't hesitate before replying.

"Of course I trust you, you idiot" she bumped him playfully with her shoulder before continuing, her voice softer and more serious, "just don't make me regret it, ok?"

"Not for all the gold in Haven." He declared solemnly before wincing as he realised the thoughtlessness of the statement, considering that he had once held Holly for ransom and traded her for fairy gold.

"Forget about it Arty." Holly waved his apologies away before they were even formed, "just tell me that you have a plan for getting us to the airport?"

"I do, but it isn't exactly original."

"Go on…?" she looked at him expectantly.

"We need to steal a car."

XXXX

**Unknown Location – Somewhere dark and generally unpleasant**

As a young fairy Stryker Woods had aspired to be many things – athlete, LEP commando, scientific genius, politician…Those possibilities had however been stolen from him by the Mud Men. Where there had once been hope there was now only room for hate, where once he had felt ambition there now existed only the desire for revenge on those that had wronged him.

Reclining in the leather chair that he had treated himself to upon setting in motion the first stage of his master plan (every evil genius deserves a suitably evil chair after all) Stryker allowed himself a moment to appreciate the unmitigated success of his plans so far; London was in uproar as a mysterious creature savaged civilian after civilian and Haven was practically tearing itself apart. All the world was dancing to his tune and not one of them, not even the brilliant Foaly, even stopped to consider the possibility that someone might be composing the music to which they danced.

A flicker of irritation disrupted Stryker's otherwise excellent mood as he realised that he wasn't entirely correct, his plans hadn't quite met with unmitigated success so far although the failure was merely a minor detail. If all had gone according to plan then Captain Holly Short would be dead and Artemis Fowl would be busy taking the blame for her murder. The assassination attempt had achieved the desired political effect but the LEP captain and juvenile genius had somehow managed to escape with their lives, a situation which would need to be rectified.

Stryker was interrupted from his thoughts by a knock on the door to his office (if the cave in which he currently resided could be awarded such a title).

"Come in" he commanded, swivelling slowly to face the door as it opened; from this position his own face would be shrouded within the shadows but he would be able to see his guest perfectly. Three individuals stepped through the door and entered the room, the first two were dressed in identical black combat armour and armed with softnose rifles. Even if Stryker hadn't already met the two mercenaries their distinctive build left no doubt as to their identity as dwarves. The last member of the trio was a visibly bound and nervous human male, Stryker guessed that he was of roughly middle age for a human, pathetically young though that may be by fairy standards.

At a signal from Stryker the dwarves shoved the captive human was shoved roughly to his knees in the centre of the room. Stryker allowed the human a moment to familiarise himself with his new surroundings, he watched in growing amusement as the man's eyes darted anxiously from the monitors canvassing most of one wall to the simple bed and desk which apart from the chair in which Stryker was currently sitting composed the only furniture within the chamber.

"Please…I did what you asked, I got you the ship and I made sure that no one asked any questions. I don't understand why-" The man was babbling and plainly terrified, as he should be. Stryker liked nothing more than the sight of a terrified human but he couldn't abide _babbling. _

"Enough." It was only one word but it resonated with such force that the man stopped dead mid-sentence.

"Let us dispense with needless diversions, Mr Williams. You are a scientist and, I am led to believe, an intelligent man. Place yourself in my position and I am confident that you will quickly obtain total comprehension. To put it simply you were an expendable tool; a pawn which whilst transiently useful one must ultimately always be willing to sacrifice. Your usefulness has come to an end and with it, I am afraid, your life. Loose ends cannot be tolerated."

"No! Please I beg you, I have a family! You don't need to do this, I won't, I swear I won't-" _More babbling, at least face your death with a little grace you worthless Mud Man _Stryker thought in disgust. The man made a desperate attempt to stand up but was forced back to his knees by one of the dwarven mercenaries; his fear of the inevitable was almost palpable and he was clearly sweating profusely.

"Rest assured Mr Williams that your family will soon be joining you. I will unleash a storm upon this Earth such as humanity cannot possibly imagine. Be grateful that _you_ will not live to see your cities reduced to rubble and your people made slaves." _A tad melodramatic but accurate enough _he decided.

Stryker nodded to the mercenary on the left. With a practiced and remorseless ease the mercenary brought the barrel of his rifle level with the back of the captive scientist's head, a quick glance towards his employer was enough to confirm the order.

The subtle noise of the trigger being suppressed hardly did justice to the destructive power of the weapon as it discharged into the back Mr Williams' head, killing him instantly.

"Clear this mess up" Stryker muttered derisively to the two mercenaries, the décor was bad enough already without letting the damned Mud Man bleed all over the floor. "Toss the body in the chute, the magma can take care of it for us."

_Soon _Stryker thought as his fingers tapped impatiently against the arm of his chair, _soon enough the ignominy of hiding in caves will be over. _As he turned away from the grizzly spectacle on the floor before him, Stryker glanced up at the monitors blanketing the far wall. Many were showing the chaos that had engulfed central Haven however one monitor in particular captured his attention, upon the screen it was just possible to make out the outline of a large feline creature. For the moment the animal was still, waiting to ambush its unsuspecting prey. Stryker smiled to himself, he had waited a very long time for this opportunity but _nothing_ could stop him now, he was the predator lurking in the shadows and humanity would be the defenceless victim…

XXXX

The scene that greeted Commander Trouble Kelp as his armoured LEP shuttle roared into the central square easily ranked amongst the most chaotic he had ever witnessed during his career with the LEP. Retrieval One had formed a tightly packed defensive semi-circle in one corner of the square and even from this distance it was clear that they were taking a battering from the rioters.

"Retrieval Three swing right and drive them back in that direction, Retrieval Four the same on the left. Retrieval Two, you're with me, let's give those officers some support!" This was the part that Trouble loved, the reason that he had joined the LEP in the first place, nothing could equal the feeling of euphoria that came with charging into a firefight.

Unlike the brutality often seen when human riot police clash with rioters the LEP took great pride in non-violent crowd control and the sonic emitters attached to each of the armoured shuttles for perfect at doing precisely that. As the Retrieval teams advanced into the fray the machines began to emit vibrations at two carefully controlled frequencies – one frequency was extremely high and designed to be so unpleasant to hear that it rendered coherent thought impossible and drove the individuals to do anything possible to avoid the sound (generally this meant dropping weapons and either running or surrendering).

If that didn't work then the second frequency would cause anyone unfortunate enough to hear it to become violently ill, thus incapacitating them. The beauty of the system was that the LEP helmets effectively blocked both frequencies, therefore whilst any rioters would be rendered utterly incapacitated the LEP officers would be completely unaffected.

The sonic emitters worked perfectly and enabled Trouble's unit to easily push through the dense crowds separating them from their beleaguered colleagues. _You really can't fault Foaly's technology _Trouble thought as he clambered from the shuttle and jogged over to greet Major Darkleaf. Of course he would never share the praise with the centaur himself, Foaly's head might actually explode if it got any bigger.

"Major!" Trouble called over to Darkleaf as he walked towards the ring of shields which marked Retrieval One's location. The officers that stood before him were visibly tired and battered, they had clearly been through hell already that day and yet he noted with pride that their discipline remained unwavering.

"Commander" Major Darkleaf detached himself from the rest of Retrieval One and saluted Trouble respectfully.

"At ease Major" Trouble dismissed the formalities with a wave of his hand, they didn't have the time to stand on formality today. "I want these scum secured and transported to the holding cells asap" Trouble barked to a burly gnome sergeant, gesturing at the hundred or so rioters currently laying prone within the square. Waiting until the sergeant was out of earshot he turned back to Darkleaf, when he spoke his voice was quiet but deadly serious.

"I need to know what shape your men are in Darkleaf. Retrieval One are the best squad I've got, I need them for an emergency surface op but if they aren't fit then I'll have to use one of the others and hope they're up to it…"

Darkleaf visibly stiffened at the suggestion that his squad might not be fit for duty. "I won't lie Sir, it's been a pretty rough day, but we only have two real casualties and the medics are already patching them up. Retrieval One won't let you down, Sir."

Trouble nodded, satisfied. "Good, that's what I wanted to hear Major. Tell your squad to get their gear together, we're leaving ASAP." Major Darklead nodded in response and made to return to his unit. Before he could leave Trouble placed his hand on his arm to stop him. "You mentioned that there were casualties….Grubb, is he…?"

Darkleaf avoided his commanding officer's gaze as he replied, "He's out for the count Sir but the medics say he should be fine in a few hours."

To a casual observer the commander would have appeared unmoved by this news, Darkleaf however knew better. He had served under Trouble for long enough to notice the subtle changes in expression which revealed his true concern for his younger brother's welfare; when he spoke however his tone was unmistakeably irritated.

"Very well, I'll deal with him later. Tell the medics to patch him up then get him loaded onto the troop shuttle. I need Retrieval One at full strength and as we don't have the luxury of time to spare. Grubb will just have to recover en route."

Darkleaf was spared the need to reply by the sound of Foaly's voice across the radio, "Hey Trouble, how did the new Sonincs work? No, wait, don't tell me, I can see how awesome they are from the camera feed."

If you looked hard enough then it was almost possible to see the vein throbbing on Trouble's forehead as he listened to Foaly's boasting. "Considering how much they cost to develop they should damn well be arresting the criminals for us!"

Darkleaf could hear Foaly's indignant whinny through his radio, however Trouble was clearly running out of patience and he cut the centaur off before he could begin to verbalise his indignation.

"Don't worry Foaly; you'll have plenty of time to explain precisely how fantastic your inventions are on the shuttle to Tara." If Darkleaf didn't know better, then he would have sworn that the Commander was smiling.

"…Tara? You want _me _on the shuttle to Tara?! You can't be serious Trouble, I'm not a 'field fairy' under the best of circumstances and those things up there definitely do not qualify as the _best of circumstances!" _The indignation was completely absent from Foaly's voice now, replaced entirely by anxiety. Darkleaf shot the Commander a concerned look, he hadn't been briefed on any 'things up there' and he didn't appreciate being left out of the loop.

Trouble returned the look with a grim expression which told Darkleaf all that he needed to know about the seriousness of the situation above ground. Foaly might jump at shadows but Trouble Kelp was just about the steadiest, bravest and most generally gung-ho officer the LEP had seen in a generation. If Trouble was concerned then there was a very good reason for it.

"You're right Foaly, the situation is pretty dire and that's why you're coming topside with us. I'm taking Retrieval One into one of the most populous Mud Man capitals on the planet, to go after an adversary we all believed had been wiped out millennia ago, we need all the technical support we can get and unfortunately that means you're coming along for the ride."

Darkleaf missed the rest of the conversation as a previously unconscious demon rioter had chosen that moment to regain consciousness and recommence his assault upon the LEP. By the time the prisoner had been restrained Trouble had finished on the radio and was instead organising the extraction of Retrieval One from the square.

"Pick up the pace Major, its past time we were all out of here!" Trouble called over.

"Yes Sir!" Darkleaf automatically replied. As he followed his squad out of the square which had only moments ago resembled a battle scene, he paused and looked back at the devastation. Trouble was not the sort of commander to leave hard work to other officers, if he was leading Retrieval One above ground now then whatever was happening up there had to be worse than this…Darkleaf sincerely hoped that he was mistaken but he couldn't shake the feeling that they were leaving the frying pan and diving headfirst into the fire.

A/N: _Thanks for reading! As always please leave a quick review to let me know what you thought : ) _

_I still need to decide one aspect of the story and that is whether to include a 'lemon' scene between Artemis and Holly (obviously a pretty tame scene given the T rating that I'm contained by). I'm intrigued as to whether most people would like to see such a scene or not so please let me know your opinions – at the moment I'm edging towards including it but I'm open to persuasion ;)_


	6. Out of the Frying Pan

_A/N: __Hi! Firstly let me please start by apologising for the length of my absence from this story – unfortunately work, volunteering and university have taken over for the last year (I should be graduating with a First though and I have an offer to study Medicine – so it wasn't in vain!). I am going to try to pick up where I left off and I will do my best to see the story through to completion over the course of this summer/Autumn; I hope you all enjoy where it goes and as always please drop me a review, it really does mean a lot!_

_Also, as an aside; I realise that my grammar was somewhat less than ideal in the first few chapters and I will at some point aim to go back through and correct that! Also, I'm going to be travelling in the USA for a month in June/July and would love any tips/advice that any American readers want to share :) _

* * *

**Jasper National Park, Canada:**

"If you laugh, I _will_ kill you." Holly glared at Artemis over the bonnet of the Mercedes.

"What possible reason could I have for laughing?" Artemis replied coolly, raising one eyebrow fractionally. Holly's glare hardened and she kicked the front tire ineffectually before replying.

"I am not wearing this Artemis, I look _ridiculous_!" Holly groaned, gesturing in exasperation to the canary yellow SpongeBob t-shirt and blue jeans that Artemis had found for her. Clearly the previous occupants of the vehicle had been travelling, as the boot had been full of suitcases.

"Whether you look ridiculous or not is irrelevant; the only thing that matters right now is that you look passably similar to a human child. The only problem is your ears…Ah! Perfect." Artemis extracted a violet beanie from one of the suitcases and proceeded to pull the hat down until it covered her ears.

If looks could kill, then Holly was pretty sure that Artemis would be reduced to ashes by the glare that she was currently giving him.

_D'Arvit but I hate it when he's right!" _she thought irritably.

"I look like something that even a troll wouldn't eat" Holly grumbled, before adding "I'm sure you planned this…"

"Hardly; it was simply good fortune on our part that the car we decided to borrow happened to have some children's clothing in the boot."

"And I think you look positively delectable" Artemis added suggestively, the slender fingers of his right hand moving smoothly from the rim of the hat to trace the corner of her face before settling on the lobes of her ears, which he proceeded to roll gently between his index finger and thumb."

"Ohh Frondddddddd!" Holly literally purred, "You have no idea how good that feels!"

"I have some notion." Artemis smirked as he increased the pace whilst his left hand slipped to down to encircle her waist.

In one swift motion Holly found herself pressed against his chest and staring up into his mismatched eyes – eyes which were the mirror image of her own. She could feel his heart beating against her chest and his gaze held her own with an intensity that made her feel as if the teenage genius was devouring her with his eyes.

"Holly…"

"Shut up, just shut up and kiss me."

She almost growled as she jumped and wrapped her legs around his waist, tangling her hands in his messy black hair and crushing his lips against her own. Frond but she needed this – how could Artemis affect her like this?!

It took a considerable force of will but Holly was eventually able to pull herself away from Artemis for long enough to catch her breath.

"Want to tell me where you learned that trick with the ears?!" She panted with mock severity.

"Trick? If I have deceived or otherwise manipulated you Holly then I assure you that was not my intention."

_D'Arvit, when did that smug grin stop making me want to punch him?! _

"For the record, I noted that your ears became disproportionately flushed during, well, last night…Based on this observation it seemed a logical assumption that Elven ears could be erogenous – and in the name of scientific enquiry it seemed only appropriate to test the hypothesis at the first available opportunity."

"Scientific enquiry?" Holly's voice took on a dangerous tone "If you ever want a repeat of last night Arty, then _never_ compare me to a scientific experiment again." Holly kissed him once more before pushing herself away.

"We're wasting daylight and I could swear you're trying to distract me – we are going to return this car, right?" Holly asked suspiciously as she moved towards the vehicle in question, running her hand along the rim of the bonnet and admiring the finish.

The Mercedes was certainly no supersonic LEP attack shuttle, but it would do. The events of the last few days had left Holly feeling more stressed than she could remember being since…well since Artemis had died.

What she needed right now was speed. Under normal circumstances Holly _might _have given some consideration to the ticking off she would get from Trouble if she got pulled over for speeding in a human vehicle – however given that she had already broken public enemy number one out of LEP custody, assaulted two officers in the process and subsequently come worryingly close to sleeping with said fugitive, getting a speeding ticket didn't rank too highly on the list of potential problems.

"Of course, you saw me leave the note…" Artemis feigned indignation as he climbed into the car beside her.

"Wait, Holly, what are you doing?"

"Just getting the engine started Arty, don't worry."

_Hold on to your lunch Mud Boy!_

"Holly I really think I should drive, in case anyone sees uSsss!"

Whatever else Artemis had meant to say was lost in the roar of the engine as Holly floored the accelerator and the car rocketed onto the main road.

XXX

**Tara Shuttle Port – Ireland**

To say that Foaly was worried would have been an understatement; if concern could be assessed using a scale of 0 – 10 then Foaly would have ranked at about 11 on a logarithmic scale. Haven was in chaos, two of Foaly's closest friends were fugitives from the LEP and now this…The 'big cat' that the Mud Men were blaming for the attacks in London, was in fact a manticore – although the beasts were supposed to be extinct so how one had found its way to central London was anyone's guess.

Manticores were the monsters that haunted the nightmares of young fairies; they were supposed to have a head and body similar to a lion, leathery, bat-like wings and the tail of a giant scorpion. Until today they were also supposed to be extinct – the last of their kind having been died out before The People had been forced to migrate below ground.

In the days when their ancestors were only just beginning to understand electricity (while the Mud Men were still learning how to make stone tools) manticores, having evolved to be the perfect predators of magical beings, had been the greatest threat facing The People – and now one was not only alive but somehow in the centre of a major city!

_How could this possibly have happened? More to the point, how could this possibly have happened without __**me **__knowing about it in advance?!_

Foaly only ceased mentally chastising himself when their shuttle reached the port. Tara (not for the first time – although at least Holly couldn't be blamed on this occasion) resembled a war-zone. Visibly stressed security sprites in high-vis vests could be seen struggling (and largely failing) to pacify the large crowd of tourists that were now stranded in the port, due to Haven being in temporary lockdown.

Foaly drew his attention away from the chaos of the shuttle port in time to see the Commander exit the shuttle behind Retrieval One. Commander Trouble Kelp must have been exhausted – Foaly and most of the Retrieval Team had spent the journey up from Haven resting but Trouble had spent the time planning and now, it seemed, he was going to brief the rest of the squad.

"Gentleman…It would be an understatement to say that we have all had a long day, so I'm going to keep this short and to the point."

_Which implies that you know any other way to do things…_Foaly thought, but wisely decided to keep those thoughts to himself.

"Let me first say how proud I am of each and every one of you; this has been a dark day for Haven and Retrieval One has already done more than any fairy could have asked." The Commander's words were met by applause and a few encouraging cheers – the Retrieval jarheads might be exhausted but they were still receptive to praise from their commander.

Personally Foaly just would have preferred to just get the entire sorry incident over with so that he could get back home to Caballine. One hoof pawed the cement floor nervously, as Foaly's thoughts turned to his wife and the ordeal that she had gone through the previous day.

Trouble raised his hand to stall any further cheering, before continuing "You have done more today than any fairy could ask, and yet I must ask more still." Trouble paused for effect and made a point of meeting the gaze of each member of the team in turn. Whatever else Foaly might think about Trouble, he certainly couldn't fault his motivational speaking.

"I can confirm that the rumours some of you may have heard, are true. We have credible Intel that there is a manticore hunting Mud Men, in the centre of London. I cannot tell you how one of these monsters managed to escape extinction, but I'm sure that I do not need to tell you all how imperative it is that we capture, or if necessary kill, the beast before the Mud Men do. If we fail in this, and I know that you will not, then we risk nothing less than the exposure of The People."

Foaly suppressed a nervous whinny. _Ok, so only the end of the world as we know it then, that's a relief…Where are you, Holly and Artemis? _

As Trouble drew to the conclusion of his briefing, Foaly found himself missing his friends more than ever; 'end of the world as we know it' situations certainly fell within their area of expertise. He couldn't help but worry about them and what they might be doing – if Foaly knew them at all then he was sure that far from 'laying low', they would be heading directly for the eye of the storm.

_But do they know what they're heading towards? _

As Foaly thought this an image from the Police Plaza security feed came unbidden to the surface of his mind; Artemis leaning in to kiss Holly and Holly moving forward to meet him…_No! _He couldn't think about that, the consequences for both of his friends were far too awful to imagine.

A suspicious and decidedly offensive smell, which seemed to be emanating from the jumbo-sprite on Foaly's left, distracted Foaly from his thoughts in time to hear the Commander finish.

"…and we will not let the People down! Thank you, thank you all! Take ten and grab some rations while we get the shuttle prepped for the journey to London. Foaly – a word if you don't mind?"

Trouble drew Foaly to one side while the remaining Retrieval and tech fairies went about either finding food or readying the high-tech Retrieval shuttle for use. Only once the others were safely out of the way did he allow some of the exhaustion, that Foaly knew he must be feeling, to show on his face.

"Foaly, I wanted to speak to you on the way up here but there wasn't enough privacy. Please tell me that you have something on Holly and that D'Arvitting Mud Boy?"

"Our scanners detected an unauthorised shuttle entering E20 shortly after Artemis escaped from custody, but they never reached Tara so Holly must have gone off the grid – given time I'm sure that I could find them but-" Trouble cut Foaly off before he could finish.

"No, you're right. As much as I would like to string Fowl up and use him as troll bait, that will have to wait until the present crisis is resolved."

Trouble was clearly struggling to speak about Artemis and Holly without physically harming something; not wishing to encourage Trouble to focus on his friends, Foaly ceased upon the opportunity to change the subject.

"About that, Commander…I've been thinking and I have a theory as to how the manticore came to be in London; I think we need to-" Before Foaly could finish his sentence, one of the tech fairies shouted over from the transport shuttle.

"Sir, shuttle's prepped and ready for launch; waiting on your go!"

"Excellent, we're just coming!" Trouble shouted back.

"I'm sorry Foaly but we can talk about any hair-brained theories you may have, once we've dealt with the current problem and are all safely back below ground."

Trouble shot Foaly a half-hearted smile, which did nothing to ease his sense of foreboding, before boarding the new shuttle.

_If I'm right then there might not be a 'safely back below ground' for any of us! Whatever is going on here is bigger than this and we are playing straight into their hands…_

With great reluctance, Foaly followed Trouble onto the shuttle. While the pilots ran through the necessary pre-flight checks, Foaly activated his wrist-mounted computer – whatever the Commander may have said, there was something that he needed to check before they got to London. Foaly had a hunch and he knew just the person to help him confirm it…

XXX

**Vancouver Airport, Canada**

"You know I'm never entirely sure where I stand on totem poles; obviously they lack the grandeur of the ancient Greek sculptures or the finesse of Renaissance art, but there is a certain rustic majesty about them. What do you think Holly?"

Artemis, currently critically appraising the large totem pole situated in the middle of the passenger lounge, was being his usual self-absorbed self and Holly (still wearing the yellow SpongeBob t-shirt) was less than impressed.

_I think you're lucky that I haven't broken anything important in retribution for making me wear this…outfit. Like your arm for instance. _

The drive from Jasper National Park to Vancouver had been uneventful, the freedom of the open road and a fast car had enabled Holly to temporarily forget about the events of the last few days.

Unfortunately that escapism could not last and Holly certainly was not appreciating being forced to pretend that she was Artemis's baby sister – the security guard that had tried to tell her she was a 'such a brave little girl' for not being afraid of flying was, frankly, fortunate to still be in one piece.

Holly had once broken the record for flying closer to a magma flare than any other LEP officer in history – including her former Commander Julius Root; anything that she didn't know about flying, wasn't worth knowing.

The true cause of Holly's bad temper wasn't the humiliation of having to dress as a human child; if she was honest with herself then she was angry at the fact that she had to drive to Vancouver where previously she would have soared above the Rockies on a pair of state-of-the-art hummingbird wings. The fact that she had to wait around in this damned airport in order to fly on an archaic, pollutant belching tin-can with wings, when a week ago she could have commandeered a LEP fast-pursuit shuttle.

Circumstances beyond her control had forced her, in an instant, to choose between Artemis Fowl and her career, her friends, her home and her life. Looking up at the Mud Boy, _her_ Mud Boy; Holly knew that however frustrated she might be right now, she had never really had a choice.

"Holly?" The sound of his voice snapped Holly back from her temporary introspection.

"Miles away, sorry Arty. What were you saying?"

Artemis raised one eyebrow fractionally, the way he looked at made her feel as if he could see straight through her into the depths of her soul. Artemis didn't need magic to read her mind it seemed; although if he guessed at her thoughts then he made no mention of it.

"I was curious as to your opinion on totem poles."

"Are you planning to re-decorate Fowl Manor?" Holly asked, suppressing a giggle at the mildly offended look that Artemis gave her in reply.

"I think they're great but probably not for the same reasons that most Mud Men do – my people built the first totems to scare your ancestors off, before humans even reached North America." Holly said, before adding sourly "not that it did us much good."

Before Artemis could reply he was stopped by the tannoy "British Airways Flight B736 to London Heathrow will now begin boarding from gate 52"

"Well that's us, I must confess at looking forward to having a proper bed again, camping is definitely not for me; that is not say that the experience has been entirely unpleasant…" Artemis smirked as Holly elbowed him playfully in the side.

"For someone that still hasn't gotten lucky yet, you seem awfully pleased with yourself." Holly shot him a playful wink as they reached the cue to board their plane.

"I am confident that luck has nothing to do with it." Artemis replied indignantly.

Holly just smiled and said nothing.

"Boarding passes please; make sure you have your boarding passes ready." A middle aged stewardess waited to check Artemis and Holly's passports. Fortunately Artemis had been able to make a call to one of Butler's associates in Vancouver and the necessary documents, including passports for both himself and Holly, had been waiting for them at the airport.

The stewardess treated him to a very clearly forced smile as he handed her their documents.

"Thank you Mr…O'Reilly? And this would be-"

My little sister, Kayleigh O'Reilly. We're visiting relatives in London." Artemis provided the stewardess with a truly vampiric smile; plainly disconcerted she wasted no time in returning their forged documents and showing them to their seats.

Once they were safely out of earshot of the cabin crew, Holly turned to Artemis.

"Your _little sister_?"

"Well I couldn't very well introduce you as my girlfriend, could I?" Artemis stopped almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

"Sorry, that was presumptuous of me Holly, I didn't mean to imply that we-"

"Its fine, Arty, really. This is just going to take a bit of getting used to – let's worry about getting to London and clearing our names first, then maybe we can think about…us."

"You're right of course." Artemis buckled himself in to his seat and extracted his phone from his pocket.

"I thought I would check up on recent events while we fly, see if there has been any further mention of events in London."

"You do that, I'm going to sleep." Holly lifted Artemis's arm up and over her, enabling her to rest her head against his chest.

"Mmmm, definitely beats the free pillows." Holly murmured into his chest as the plane began to taxi towards the runway.

Despite everything that had already happened to them, and despite the uncertain dangers that they were flying towards, in that moment Holly was absolutely content – she would deal with tomorrow when they got there.

XXX

**Unknown Location, Somewhere dark and generally unpleasant**

Stryker reclined in his seat and allowed himself a rare moment of utter self-satisfaction – well ok, maybe they weren't _that _rare but so few people appreciated true evil genius these days…

On the wall monitor before him a single image was frozen - LEP Commander Trouble Kelp and LEP technical director Foaly standing in the Tara shuttle port.

_Perfect! They've taken the bait more readily than I could ever have hoped. _

With a swipe of his hand the screen changed to show live footage of downtown Haven. The devastation from days of rioting could clearly be seen on the monitor. Even as he watched Stryker could see a new group of protestors begin to mass, evidently the anti-Mud protests in Haven were showing no sign of abetting, despite the best efforts of the LEP.

Yes, things were progressing precisely according to plan – and it was high time for a change of scenery. One could only spend so long orchestrating the dawn of the New Age from a cave after all…With Foaly and Commander Kelp out of Haven and Captain Short and her Mud Boy pet fugitives from the LEP, now was the perfect time for his grand re-entrance.

"Bron!" Bron was an elderly gnome that had served Stryker ever since he had first decided to leave Haven for a life of isolation and plotting. He had been a servant to Stryker's father before he had died – _no, not died, before the D'Arvitting Mud Men __**murdered **__him. _

"Yes Master?" Bron replied

Stryker took a second to calm himself before speaking.

"Prep the shuttle – we're going home."

"Home…Sir?"

"D'Arvit! Do I have to explain everything twice?! Yes, home! We're going back to Haven Bron…After all, it seems only right that The People should meet their new King, don't you agree?"

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A/N: Once again, massive thanks to everyone for reading (and particularly for reading this far!); if you are enjoying the story so far and/or want to leave some constructive criticism, advice or speculation on where the story is going then please leave a review! I will try to reply to as many of them as possible but no promises.

Also, once again, please accept my apologies for the unacceptably long period of absence!


	7. A Monster in London

**A/N:** Chapter 7 is up! I felt like the last two chapters were largely fillers (and some important character development) so it's good to be getting back to the action – and some more rapid plot progression. I was hoping to get one more chapter up before I leave for the US of A, but unfortunately real life has conspired to get in the way – so this will be my last update for at least a month, sorry :\

I'm absolutely blown away by the number of people that are reading this fic – but if you do read it and enjoy it (or think there are things that I can improve on) then please leave a review! It really means a lot to know what people think :-)

Enjoy!

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**Hyde Park, London:**

The flight had not been unduly arduous but the British Airways upper class cabin could hardly be expected to compare to the comfort, or privacy, of Artemis' private Lear Jet.

Nonetheless there had certainly been some perks - Artemis had made no objection when Holly decided to join him in his pod. He had meant to work during the flight, to prepare for their arrival in London; but the warm form of Holly cuddled against his chest had been sufficient to render all higher thought processes obsolete for the remainder of the journey.

Frustratingly, it seemed that even geniuses were powerless in the face of hormones.

Before leaving for London, Artemis had contacted Butler to confirm the arrangements for their rendezvous – no doubt Butler would have been extremely relieved to have heard from them but Artemis could not risk direct contact and had been forced to send a message by proxy.

Wary of contacting Butler directly (certain that Foaly would be monitoring all communication in or out of Fowl Manor), Artemis had arranged to have Butler's contact in Vancouver deliver a carefully coded message via a disposable phone.

He was under no illusions that this would fool Foaly forever, but hopefully it would buy them enough time to rendezvous with Butler undetected.

The plan was simple, Artemis and Holly would wait for Butler at the Lido Café in Hyde Park. Once Butler arrived they would scout the area and set a trap for the mysterious predator that had the Lower Elements in such a panic.

Their chosen site afforded an excellent view around most of the lake, which appeared to be the focus of the recent attacks. Although, as expected, accounts of the 'creature' differed drastically, all appeared to agree that the attacks only occurred after dark; Artemis was therefore confident that they would be safe here until Butler arrived, in under an hour.

As he sipped his Earl Grey tea Artemis looked across the table at Holly. The amber rays of the setting sun reflected off her auburn hair and accentuated the natural hazel of her skin, so that she seemed almost ethereal and yet at the same time, tantalisingly vivacious.

He tried to focus on his laptop, but try as he might be could not take his eyes off her – nor fail to notice the way that her lips curled into a wistful, bitter-sweet smile as she watched a swan swim elegantly past, leaving ripples in its wake.

Artemis had spent his entire life with all of this natural wonder at his fingerprints and yet his appreciation of it had never extended beyond its potential financial value.

Even if he had still possessed magic, Artemis would not have needed it to see how much Holly treasured, and missed, every tiny detail of the natural world that he took for granted.

In the background, Big Ben began to chime sonorously. Nine o'clock at night, Butler would be due to meet them at nine fifteen.

Artemis had first described Holly as 'pretty, in a pointy way'; as a teenager he had compared her fierce beauty to that of a black widow. He had seen her superficial, aesthetic appeal and his teenage mind had looked no further.

Now as an adult he felt that he was finally seeing Holly properly - she was not only his closest friend but also quite simply the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Magical, in every sense of the word.

_To think what I might have lost…_

"You know, if you take a picture it will last longer Arty" Holly was smirking at him across the table.

"Guilty as charged" Artemis grinned back "but can you blame me? This is all very…new to me; I have no precedent upon which to base my behaviour, so to speak."

"Yeah well it's pretty new to me to Arty…"

"Truly? I had assumed that I would not be your first…well, I detest the term 'boyfriend' but I'm sure you take my meaning. You are, after all, not exactly a teenager-" Artemis paused as he searched his considerable memory bank for Holly's precise age.

"Be _VERY _careful." Holly was glaring daggers at him across the table, in mock outrage.

"And then there is of course the good Commander…" Artemis continued unabashed.

"Urghhh" Holly groaned "Two dates Artemis, two dates! And they were both lousy!"

Artemis let Holly simmer for a minute, he knew that teasing her probably wasn't wise (given her tendency to cause physical harm to those things that annoyed her) but he really couldn't resist.

"I suppose the Commander isn't one for settling down. More of a 'wham-bam, thank you ma'am' type of fairy? If you'll forgive the colloquialism."

Artemis smiled mischievously across the table at Holly – he was going to pay for the teasing but it was worth it to see the look on her face. He could definitely remove Trouble from the list of potential rivals for her affections.

Holly didn't look angry, indeed she didn't react for so long that Artemis thought that she might have chosen to ignore his comment entirely.

He was wrong, naturally.

"Ohh, HolLY!" Artemis hissed through grated teeth as he felt a sudden pressure against his inner thigh. Extremely far up his inner thigh.

Holly had slipped off her shoe, and her foot was pressing in a very, very sensitive area.

Across the table Holly was holding his gaze and grinning wickedly. It was the kind of smile that a great white shark might give a baby seal. You really had to feel sorry for Artemis; all the brain power in Mensa couldn't help him now.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying Arty…Something about 'whamming', wasn't it?"

He couldn't concentrate, a thousand witty replies were flashing through his brain and yet none seemed capable of eliciting any response from his vocal cords.

Illegal – whatever she was doing had to be illegal. There was simply no way that anything could feel _that good _and still be legal!

Holly's foot was moving inexorably north, sensuously massaging his leg as it went.

Artemis could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks – he was certain that he could probably glow in the dark at this point.

Under other circumstances he might have observed that the rush of blood to the extremities occurred in response to peripheral vasodilation - itself a consequence of a surge in the release of the hormone adrenalin, from the adrenal medulla.

As it was, it was doubtful that he could count to ten under the current circumstances.

Of course, a surge of blood to the extremities could present in other ways too.

Holly stopped her exploration of his inner thigh abruptly, her eyes suddenly much wider than usual, lips slightly apart in the shape of the letter o.

_Oh no…._

Grinning impishly she leant forward and whispered in his ear. "You do know that it's a criminal offence to be in possession of a concealed firearm, right Arty? Call us quits for the ear-rubbing thing."

Artemis had no reply. All he could think about was the overpowering urge to pull the tiny elf to him, kiss that delectably cherubic mouth and…do many other things which certainly could not be discussed in any detail in a T rated novel!

Fortunately he was spared the need to reply by circumstances beyond his control.

Unfortunately, those circumstances would prove to be fatal for at least one party involved.

**XXX**

"Help! Oh God, someone help!"

Artemis had been about to kiss her, she was sure of it. This had better be _really_ bloody important.

"D'Arvit!" Holly swore loudly; fortunately the other customers were too distracted by the screaming emanating from the far side of the lake to notice the alien profanity.

More voices were now joining the first and Holly could see people desperately running out of the woods and towards the bridge, which spanned the lake and reached the shore less than twenty metres from where she and Artemis were sat.

"I miscalculated, the creature was not supposed to be active this early. Butler isn't here yet…" Artemis was muttering behind her, apparently restored to his senses, but Holly wasn't listening; her police instincts had kicked in as soon as she heard the screaming.

"Get these people into the café and lock the door behind you." Holly said grimly.

Artemis looked determined to object but she pre-empted him.

"You're the genius Arty, I'm the field agent. Someone over there needs helps, and I can't help them and look after you."

_Sorry Arty but we don't have time for tact. _

Without waiting for a response, Holly tore off in the direction of the bridge – which incidentally (and very inconveniently) was now blocked by a surge of panicked humans. Evidently running headfirst into the crowd of Mud Men, most of whom were almost 3 feet taller than her, was not an option.

_What I wouldn't give for some wings right now! _Holly thought irritably. With no time left for hesitation, Holly took a running leap and landed on the railings of the bridge.

Ignoring the shocked expressions of the Mud Men running past in the opposite direction (it wasn't like she could be in any_ more _trouble with the LEP, right?!) she ran lithely along the railings and leapt clear of the far side of the bridge.

More screaming, closer this time; Holly increased her pace, sprinting into the trees and drawing her neutrino as she went.

The sun was not yet fully set but in the shade of the forest the trees cast inky black shadows which seemed to surround Holly and follow her every movement. Every shadow could conceal a potential attacker and she treated them all with caution.

It didn't take her long to identify the source of the screaming; a small child was huddled in the centre of the clearing and crying in unadulterated terror. Beside the child an adult woman (his mother, Holly guessed) was lying motionless amongst the grass and ferns, a dark red puddle spreading ominously from her chest.

The child appeared to be unharmed but the mother would need help soon if she was going to have any chance of survival – if it wasn't already too late.

The clearing stank – the fetid stench of rotting meat seeming to permeate every inch of the once pristine glade.

_Oh no…_

Holly knew that smell, had read about during history classes as a schoolgirl. There had to be some other explanation.

Before Holly had taken more than two steps towards the prone form of the woman, some unconscious instinct born from years of recon experience stopped her in her tracks. Across the clearing from her, no more than fifteen metres away, something large and decidedly feline in shape was moving within the shadows. It was only twilight but under the cover of the trees her adversary was almost completely shrouded by the tendrils of darkness which surrounded them.

_Circling _Holly realised _It's circling the prey before launching an ambush. _

_Me, it's circling me, I'm the prey….D'Arvit! Nice kitty…_

Reaching down, careful to avoid any sudden movements which might prompt the creature to attack, Holly flipped the setting on her Neutrino to 'extra crispy'. She wasn't taking any chances, this guy was easily as large as a tiger – and if she was right then this creature was much, much more dangerous.

Spreading her feet apart into a more balanced combat stance, Holly edged slowly closer to the child, who couldn't have been older than seven.

"_You're on a beach, on holiday. All of your friends are playing on the other side of that bridge behind me, you should run over to them. You're going to forget everything that has happened today."_

Holly smiled at the boy, layering her voice with the hypnotic mesmer. He smiled back, all evidence of the recent trauma erased.

The ominous movement within the shadows had stopped – and to Holly that could only mean one thing, that the creature was preparing to pounce.

"_Run, now!" _She instructed, more forcefully this time. The child sprinted past her in the direction of the bridge, and not a second too soon. Something large and vaguely feline in appearance exploded from the trees to Holly's left.

Only her LEP honed reflexes saved her from the same fate as the boy's mother. Holly noticed the movement a second before the creature would have been on her. She dived and rolled to the right to avoid the predator's lunge, recovered and pivoted back to face her attacker.

The creature was of a similar size and build to a tiger – although any resemblance ended there. It was covered from head to tail in matted, greasy black fur; its tail was curved like the tail of a scorpion and ended in a razor sharp, barbed spike.

The creature's head was more grotesque still, its face was vaguely human and yet the features were horribly distorted and twisted – with fangs that Holly was certain were more than capable of turning her into elf casserole.

Even from metres away Holly could not avoid the fetid stench of rotten meat on its breath. Her fears were concerned, she knew what this creature was – and instantly wished that she was wrong. Manticore.

Manticores were supposed to be extinct, the last one had died millennia before Holly had even been born.

Unfortunately for her, the very definitely extant manticore clearly had not received the memo concerning its supposed extinction. Indeed Holly seemed to be the one in imminent danger of ceasing to exist.

The child was safely out of the way but Holly had definitely taken its place on the most-likely-to-be-eaten list.

The manticore shot its barbed tail forward faster than Holly would have believed possible. She was able to dodge to the side and narrowly avoid being skewered, but her luck wouldn't last forever – and one prick from that stinger would be as good as fatal.

Manticore venom was designed to kill magical creatures; the more you tried to heal yourself, the faster the venom would kill you. There was no cure, no antidote.

Having failed with its stinger the manticore switched approach, launching itself directly at Holly in a flash of mottled fur and razor sharp claws; claws which were extended and ready to eviscerate her.

Holly didn't hesitate – she squeezed the trigger of her Neutrino 2000 and managed to pump two pulses into the manticore's chest in mid-air.

Time seemed to slow for Holly as the hideous beast collided with her. Intense pain lanced through her shoulder and abdomen and she felt suddenly light-headed, her vision swimming. The manticore was still conscious, but severely stunned.

The creature pulled itself off of Holly's tiny, battered frame and tried, but failed, to lift itself onto its legs – collapsing back to the floor. Even stunned, Holly's instincts screamed that the manticore was still extremely dangerous – but when she reached for her neutrino she couldn't move her arm.

_No…Have to move…Artemis…_

Holly's vision was fading and she knew that she wouldn't be conscious for much longer. Only then did she notice the wet patch on her chest, or the warm, sticky fluid which was pooling on the ground beside her.

_How…strange…I'm leaking! _Holly thought deliriously.

The manticore had managed to impale her with its claws; ordinarily her magic would have had no problem in repairing the damage and replacing any lost blood – _ordinarily _Holly wouldn't have used up the last vestiges of her magic, shielding during the escape from Haven.

A handful of sparks flickered over the wound but not enough, not even close to enough. The last thing Holly saw before consciousness abandoned her entirely was the grotesque form of the manticore, struggling to prop itself upright, fetid saliva dripping from its jaws and a malicious glint in its beady red eyes.

**XXX**

Artemis Fowl was many things – international chess master, artist, pianist, inventor, reformed criminal mastermind and of course, a self-confessed genius. However he was not, nor ever had been, a 'man of action'.

Rationally of course Artemis accepted that he was extremely unlikely to be of any help to Holly in the event of actual combat; but he could not simply sit in the relative safety of the café and wait while the drama unfolded.

If anything happened to Holly…No, there was nothing to be gained from pursuing that train of thought; there had to be _something _that he could do to help.

Perhaps if they knew exactly what they were up against…

It was at that moment, as he lost sight of Holly in the crowd of panicking tourists, that Artemis noticed his ring begin to vibrate. Of course this was no ordinary ring but a cleverly disguised fairy communicator which Holly had given him over a year previously.

The only other person to know the frequency and encryption upon which the communicator operated was Holly – if she wasn't trying to contact him then there was only one individual that might be smart enough to isolate the frequency and hack the encryption (aside from Artemis himself, of course).

"Good evening Foaly – to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Sorry Mud Boy but we don't have time for pleasantries – which is not to say that we don't need to have a serious conversation about what happened to Holly-"

Foaly was whispering, which led Artemis to deduce that this conversation was not strictly authorised – as did the fact that he was not already staring down the barrels of a dozen LEP neutrinos (if Foaly could hack the encryption on the communicators then he could track them too).

Most curious indeed – but right now he needed to work out how to help Holly.

"You must know that I had nothing to do with that!" Artemis snapped; how could Foaly possibly believe that he could do anything to harm Holly? More to the point this conversation was wasting time.

_Is it so preposterous? How many times have your actions caused her harm before? Do you truly imagine that this…relationship, will have no consequences for her? _

_No _thought Artemis, _there is a difference; I would never intentionally cause her harm – and when I find the individuals responsible for the attempt on her life, they will sincerely regret doing so. _

"Alright, alright, don't get your pants, or you know – whatever your wear down there…in a twist! As it happens I do believe you, which is why Trouble doesn't already know where you are. That isn't why I called, we're tracking a manticore in central London, there will be a full LEP retrieval team breathing down your neck in less than an hour and I figured that the least I owe Holly is a heads up. And to rub in the fact that I hacked your little communicator, of course."

"A manticore…Foaly, I need you to give me everything that you have on these creatures, now." This was what Artemis needed, information. Information he could work with.

"Artemis why…Forget about it, just get yourself out of there! I have to go before Trouble starts to get suspicious!" Artemis could hear the anxiety in Foaly's voice, he had to try a different approach and fast or he was going to lose the centaur.

"Foaly please - Holly has gone after this creature, I need to know how to help her."

"Holly has…Oh Frond, this is not good! Artemis, listen to me, you need to get her out of there – Holly is in way over her head, even for her."

"Manticores are perfectly evolved to hunt magical creatures. They can sense magic, shielding is useless as they can see straight through it, and the venom in their stinger turns your own magic against you – like spelltropy. There's no antidote, one sting and if there's a drop of magic in you then you're as dead as a unicorn…"

"Ok." Artemis felt sick, Holly was facing this creature alone and she had no idea what she was up against. It was more than that though, he wasn't sure how he knew but he _knew _that Holly was hurt, and he was powerless to help her.

"Weaknesses Foaly – every creature has a weakness?"

As he spoke, Artemis got to his feet – without pausing to really consider what he was doing he set off at a run (more of a light jog by anyone else's standards) across the bridge and in the direction that Holly had disappeared.

"Listen to me Artemis, you don't know what you're dealing with!"

_She said that to me once…_

"You're right Foaly, but I don't have a choice." Artemis had no idea how, but he knew that he had seconds to act before something terrible happened to Holly. It might already be too late.

Switching off the communicator, he ran off the end of the bridge and ducked under the boughs of a sycamore tree on the far side; branches tugged at his shirt but he barely noticed. The sun was rapidly setting and between the trees the darkness was oppressive.

Before him, between the trees and ornate flower beds was a scene which Artemis strongly suspected would be haunting his nightmares for quite some time.

Holly was lying on the ground, completely still, in a pool of her own blood. It was immediately obvious to Artemis that without magic her injuries would be fatal – and Holly didn't have enough left in her system to cure a headache.

Her chest was still rising, but even as he watched Artemis could see that her breathing was slowing – she didn't have much time left. Beside her the body of what Artemis could only assume to be the manticore was equally still – evidently Holly had successfully stunned the creature after it had wounded her.

He felt a sense of cold dread encapsulate him, flowing through his veins and paralysing him as effectively as any anaesthetic. With an effort of will he forced himself to move to her side.

Images forced themselves into Artemis's consciousness as he knelt beside the wounded Holly – on Hybras she had been impaled upon a demon sword, her eyes clouding over as she died….Artemis had changed the past in order to save Holly before, but what could he do now?!

The temptation to cradle her in his arms was almost overwhelming but emotion could not save Holly now, rational thinking and science just might.

Artemis had completed extensive medical training but did not possess sufficient knowledge of fairy anatomy to feel confident in attempting any surgical intervention – even if the appropriate tools had been available.

From his initial assessment he concluded that the manticore had severed Holly's right sub-clavicular artery, fractured four ribs, punctured her left lung and probably ruptured her spleen. Further internal damage was almost certain and judging from her pale complexion and rapid, faint pulse – shock had already set in.

He had no more than a couple of minutes before Holly's heart would cease to beat.

Artemis scanned the clearing frantically but could see nothing that could be of any help. If he was in an operating theatre in Kings College Hospital then maybe he could do something but all he had here was trees!

_Wait…Trees. Could it work?! _

It had to be worth a try. Artemis had a theory that the genes responsible for manipulating magic (inactive in human beings) had been reactivated by the magic that he had gained during his journey through the time stream with Holly.

If he was right then all he needed to regain that magic, and heal Holly, was an acorn and the light of a full moon.

Technically the ritual was far more complicated but he was confident that the additional details were largely superfluous superstition on the part of the fairies.

If he was wrong…

_If I am wrong then Holly cannot be saved, and I refuse to accept that. _Artemis thought grimly.

As luck would have it the horrific scene was already illuminated by the light of a full moon; all he needed now was an acorn!

Time seemed to slow for Artemis as he swept his fingers desperately through the grass; hoping against hope that he wasn't already too late.

Something brushed against his fingertips. Too smooth to be a rock, too hard to be mud – he lifted the object into the moonlight and released a breath that he did not realise he had been holding. It was an acorn.

He could do it, he could save Holly!

Of course, it was never going to be that simple.

Holly shuddered once and then was still, her heart was no longer beating. Artemis felt cold all over, he could not lose Holly – there was no time for anything else now, this had to work. The record for a magical healing was two minutes without spontaneous circulation – Holly had revived Butler after a considerably longer period of time before, but only with the preservative powers of cryogenics.

Artemis frantically scraped a small pit in the soil between himself and Holly – it wasn't pretty but it would suffice. He was leaning forward to place the acorn in the soil when he first noticed that something else was wrong.

Holly wasn't breathing, but something else was. The manticore was still breathing and far too quickly for it to be unconscious – clearly it had been weakened in the fight with Holly and had been faking unconsciousness, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike…waiting for Artemis to move within range.

Which he had, the second that he leaned forwards to plant the acorn.

The first thing that he noticed was intense pain, as the creatures' barbed tail punched through his outstretched arm, slicing through muscle and tendons as if they were made of paper. The initial sensation of intense pain was followed by the sensation of cold spreading through his arm – the venom, he presumed.

Two evil red eyes glowed back at him from across the prone form of Holly. There was no mercy in the creature's gaze, only malice. This was no simple beast but a predator as cunning, malicious and efficient as it was deadly – and Artemis had failed.

A disgusting sucking sound accompanied the withdrawal of the spike from his shoulder – the wound itself would not prove fatal, nor would the venom as Artemis did not currently possess any magic; but he could already feel his limbs growing heavier with blood loss.

He could see Holly's neutrino on the grass, out of reach. He could make a dash for it but there simply wasn't enough time to grab the gun, incapacitate the manticore and heal Holly. That was assuming that he could even hit the damn thing in the first place; personal combat had never been Artemis's strong suit.

He was the king, the mastermind, the piece which in chess instructs all others; but stripped of allies he was vulnerable.

There was only really one option available, and Artemis took it. Placing the hand of his injured left arm on Holly's chest, he used the remaining hand to plunge the acorn into the earth; feverishly scraping the soil back over it with his fingers.

_Please…let this work. It has to work. _

The wait seemed to stretch on for eternity, each second magnified indefinitely. The manticore seemed content to wait, preparing more carefully this time so as to ensure a fatal strike.

Or perhaps it knew that if Artemis was successful then there would be no need for a second strike?

Suddenly he felt it – the sensation was unlike anything that he had ever experienced before. It was as if every neuron in his body had begun firing simultaneously; his heart was racing out of control and he shuddered involuntarily as waves of euphoria washed over him. The sparks began to race up from the ground, enveloping him in a blue haze of magical energy.

He felt…purified, profoundly at peace with the world and more alive than ever.

_Ironic really. _

No time for that now – the manticore was not going to hesitate much longer and Holly was out of time, if this plan was going to work then it was now or never.

"Heal" Artemis commanded, pressing his palm firmly against Holly's sternum and willing the sparks to pass into her. To his utter relief the magic obeyed without hesitation and the life-saving sparks flowed seamlessly from his hand and into Holly.

The magic poured out of him at an astounding rate and he encouraged it, pushing every spark that he could into Holly's shattered body. Steam erupted from her pores as the tiny elf was physically elevated about two feet off the ground. Her body began to spasm uncontrollably as the magic reached her brain

The euphoria was gone now. Sparks still flickered along Artemis's arm but where previously they had tingled pleasantly, now there was only a burning pain and a dreadful sense of cold emptiness which seemed to emanate from the wound inflicted by the sting of the manticore. His vision was becoming unfocused, though whether from blood loss or envenomation he could not be sure.

_Let Holly be alive _Artemis thought deliriously. He had already accepted his fate, seeing no logical alternative; but he had to know that it had not been in vain.

Stubbornly refusing to relinquish his grip on consciousness, Artemis turned to face the manticore – the magical display had clearly bemused it and bought them a temporary reprieve. That effect was now over.

He could no longer see clearly, unable to make out anything more than a hideous black blob before him. His other senses had lasted longer however; he could hear the creature hiss, the bone-chilling snap of its claws being extended in preparation for a killing strike. What remained of his sense of smell was overwhelmed by its stench as it creeped closer – some awful blend of rotting meat and untreated sewage.

Just as he had given up hope, he heard the sound that he had been hoping for – the faintest gasp, as Holly's lungs re-inflated.

She was breathing, she was alive.

_It was not in vain. _Artemis thought grimly. It would be his last conscious thought, as his brain submitted to the combined onslaught of pain, venom and shock.

* * *

**A/N:** Another cliff-hanger, sorry!

Will Artemis survive?

How does Stryker plan to take control of Haven?

Can Artemis and Holly have a relationship together without the universe imploding?!

Thanks for reading this far, if you're enjoying the story/want to read more then please leave a review! It means the world to get feedback and I will try to reply to any/all reviews:

Guest1: Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it, I agree that AF fan fiction should not be allowed to die. Let me know what you think of chapter 7 :)

HorseHeadNebula: Great name – Mass Effect fan by any chance? Thanks! I hope you enjoyed this chapter too?! I am edging towards a lemon scene, but you'll have to wait and see ;)


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